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LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. 







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LIFE 



TV 
I 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



JAMES PARTON, 

AUTHOR OF "life AND TIMES OF AARON BURR," "LIFE AND TIMES OP 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN," ETC. 



' Desperate Courage makes One a Majority.' 

IN THREE VOLUMES. 
VOL. II. 



BOSTON: 
FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO, 

1870. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, 

bt mason brothers, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



PASS 

CHAPTER I. 

NEW ORLEANS 11 

CHAPTER 11. 

ARRIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON ;... 23 

CHAPTER III. 

RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET 3? 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE AMERICAN TROOPS B6 

CHAPTER V. 

JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 69 

CHAPTER VI. 

AFTERNOON IN THE BRITISH CAMP 79 

CHAPTER VII. 

DECEMBER TWENTY-THIRD 83 

CHAPTER VIII. 

AFTER THE BATTLE 102 

CHAPTER IX. 

DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH 109 

CHAPTER X. 

AN EARNEST CHRISTMAS.... ,. 118 

CHAPTER XI. 

. THE LAST OF THE CAROLINA 129 

J 



^^^ CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. '*" 

GENERAL PACKENHAM MAKES A GIUND RECONNOISSANCE 135 

CHAPTER XIII. 

WHAT NEXT ?. . . 

148 

CHAPTER XIY 

NEW YEAR'S DAY 

IK 

CHAPTER XV. 

FINAL PREPARATIONS. 

166 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY.... 

186 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE 

232 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE NEWS AT THE NORTH 

241 

CHAPTER XXI 

FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH.... 

259 

CHAPTER XXII. 

EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN 

277 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS 

300 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

HOME IN TRIUMPH 

323 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE GENERAL RETAINS HIS COMMISSION... 



213 



223 



339 



CHAPTER XXVI 

PRESIDENT-MAKING IN 1816. 

343 



CONTENTS. IX 



PAQB 

CHAPTER XXVir. 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAMES MONROE 365 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT 3T1 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL ADAIR 383 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF COLONEL NICHOLS .. 391 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

A RED-HOT SHOT AT THE NEGRO FORT 397 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS 407 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FILLIBUSTERS IN FLORIDA 421 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 427 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

"PROMPTITUDE" 439 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

EXECUTION OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER 463 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

EN COLLISION WITH THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA , 483 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S SECOND VISIT TO PENSACOLA 498 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED 806 



X CONTENTS. 



PAoa 
CHAPTER XL. 

VERDICT OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 533 



CHAPTER XLI. 

A CHAPTER OP GLORY 65T 

CHAPTER XLII. 

GENERAL JACKSON MEETS SILAS DINSMORE 5T6 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

GENERAL JACKSON TAKES LEAVE OP THE ARMY 582 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE GOVERNOR TAKES POSSESSION 594 

CHAPTER XLV. 

THE GOVERNOR IS DISAPPOINTED 60T 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

COLONEL CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE 614 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE NEW HERMITAGE AND ITS INMATES 639 

CHAPTER XLVni. 

SIX RICHMONDS IN THE FIELD 662 



APPENDIX. 

THE CESSION OP FLORIDA 671 



CHAPTER I- 

jIEW ORLEANS. 



T . + finrl the entrance to the great 
0.. would have t^^^^ ^^^^.f i^ting than any of onv 
Valley of the M'^^'^^W J« ^^^^ /ew York havbor Dela- 
continent's Atlantic Petals sud. ^^^^^ ^^ l,t, ,t 

ware hay, the Chesapeake theb^ ^^ ^^^ Mrss.ss.ppr 

least, have been «Pf<=ted,*^* ^"^'^^ ^Hh a certain gi-andeu 
Uu d have poured rtself rnto te sea ^^ ^^^^^ „ 

and decision. Onee it f^^^^ltef^ when whales sported 
years ago, as Sir Charles Lyellconiput-, .^ ^^^^ ^^^ 
'.here now the aUigator^f tho M ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ les 

wet laud, when the line of «" [ ""l^^^^,, ^„„th was near the 
north of where it now is, »d *he iwe ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 

bU of B^^^^^^rur* J— »-^^*ii'"ir: 

:Xe"f;^;<--^-;:*tran.e^ 
And thinking it --»;-*t irt ^t of a single indi- 
lieve so startling -J^tstaTders for confirniation 
I '^^?i,^: Ttlt?' slid InJof tbeni ; " for U was only lUst 
I covered during the great hurricane. 



12 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814, 

It is such a dead level throughout the Delta of the Mis- 
sissippi that the forests, as seen in the distance from the river, 
look like a line of highlands. In all Louisiana there is not a 
hill two hundred feet high. The streets of Now Orleans are 
only nine feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Mississippi is apparently the most irresolute of rivers; 
the bed upon which it lies cannot long hold it in its soft em- 
brace. Wearing away the concave side of its numberless bends, 
rushing through new channels, slicing off acres in an hour, 
leaving lakes where it found forests, holding dissolved in its 
yellow tide land enough for a plantation, and cairying down 
in one season more trees than the Black Forest can boast, it 
reaches at last the Delta — that cesspool and general emptying- 
place for half a continent. Arriving there with its deep, 
narrow volume of waters — two hundred rivers in one — it can 
no longer contain itself, but breaks into several' channels, and 
jjushes its way through the black ooze of its own depositing, 
in a manner which looks helpless and sprawling, but which is 
in reality the shortest and directest way by which that pro- 
digious torrent could find its way to the deep waters of the 
Gulf. There are so many streams, bayous, lagoons and 
branches of the great river in the Delta, that it looks on the 
map like a damaged spider's web, with New Orleans in the 
midst thereof representing the spider. 

This dismal and amphibious region, this great Slough of 
Despond, is the crowning marvel and mystery of the Missis- 
sippi river. It is a forming world. Nature is there, as at 
Niagara, caught in the act. That dreary scene of impassable 
swamp, trembling i:)rairie, firm prairie through which men 
dig for fish, stagnant bayou, rank reeds, dense forest, and hab- 
itable land, is geology transacting openly before men's eyes. 
The materials with which nature works are lying about loose, 
subject to inspection. Dead level as it is, the mass of de- 
posited matter is inconceivable. They have bored down int"" 
the, Delta six hundred feet, without piercing through to th 
original bottom of the Gulf; finding still the trunks and 
stumps of forests that once waved their foliage over th | 



1814.] NEWOELEANS. 13 

stream. Yet nearly the entire mass is as incohesive as when 
the river first left it on the shore. 

The explanation of the simple process by which a nanow 
strip of land along the banks of the main river became, in the 
progress of ages, firm enough for man's uses, will best de- 
scribe the scene of the events about to be related. The banks 
of the Mississippi in the Delta, says Lyell, are higher than 
the swamps adjacent, because, when the river overflows, the 
coarser part of the sediment is deposited first where the speed 
of the current is first checked. " The water usually runs 
there with a gentle current among herbage, reeds and shrubs; 
and is nearly filtered of its, earthy ingi'edients before it arrives 
at the swamps." Thus, the features of the scene along the 
river are four in number : first, there is the river itself, half a 
mile wide ; secondly, the levee, or edge of the river banks, 
now increased in height and breadth by the hand of man ; 
thirdly, a strip of arable, rich land, a mile wide ; fourthly, 
he swamp, impassable, though thickly wooded. That long 
'p of firm land, pleasant now to look upon, with its plant- 
'llas and fields of sugar, is the wealth of the Delta, 
ocpt where the city interrupts, it was and is a series of 
plantations, which usually extend from the river to the 
swamp, and are separated from each other by canals, ditches 
and fences. 

Water, water everywhere ; not only on, under, and in 
the earth, but in the air also. The water of the river, flow- 
ing down from colder regions, meets in the Delta the south 
wind from the Gulf. Fog is the instantaneous result. In 
the winter months, fogs of the densest description frequently 
overspread the river and the line of plantations, coming and 
going with the south wind. In a few minutes erery object 
I is hidden from view. As speedily, when the wind changes 
or the warm sun rises, the mist breaks away and disappears. 
1 all the affairs of man transacted during the winter months 
.' this singular, unfinished region, whether those affairs be 
^aceful or warlike, fog plays an important part. 

On the last of the great bends of the Mississippi, one hun- 



14 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

dred and five miles from its mouth, in a part of the Ime ot 
habitable land, selected originally by chance, but which 
proved to be fhe best spot in the Delta for a city, with the 
Mississippi in front of it, and those two large, shallow bays, 
called Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, close behind it, 
stands the city of New Orleans. It is, necessarily, a crescent 
city. Though it now extends back in one direction seven 
miles, yet it can never have a general breadth of more than 
two until the river has filled in the shores of Lake Borgne. 

In 1814, when the cotton trade and sugar culture were in 
their infancy, and when no steamboat had yet ascended the 
Mississippi, New Orleans was neither a rich nor a populous 
city. It contained twenty thousand inhabitants. Its mer- 
chants were but petty traders, compared with the sugar lords 
and cotton kings of the present day. Nolte, the veracious, 
declares that not a merchant of New Orleans then possessed 
an independent caj)ital of an amount sufficient for speculative 
operations in cotton. The war, moreover, had deprived the 
city of all its business, and nearly the whole population was 
reduced to idleness and ill humor. Of money there was so 
little in the city that dollars were cut into small pieces for 
change. 

Yet New Orleans would have been a rich prize to th' 
enemy. Cotton was then selling in England at two shillinr 
a pound, and the manufacturing interest was beginning to 1 
clamorous for a freer supply and lower prices. At New Oi- 
lcans were stored one hundred and fifty thousand bales 
cotton, the product of two years culture, worth in Ent; 
more than half a million sterling ; all of which, a Loi , 
ministerial paper informed the manufacturers of Manche? 
would soon be thrown into the market. And so it was ; 
not precisely in the manner hinted at in the London nC 
paper. Besides this vast store of cotton, there were ten 
thousand hogsheads of sugar in the city, worth a million and 
a quarter of dollars, and a great number of sea-going vessels 
lying along the levee, uninhabited, their seams yawning in the 
Bun. As the attempt to capture New Orleans cost England 



1814.] NEW ORLEANS. 16 

a million sterling, the expedition might have paid its ex- 
penses in mere plunder, if the attempt had succeeded. 

The twenty thousand inhabitants of New Orleans — who 
and what were they ? Precise information on this point can 
not be procured at this late day. French Creoles were the 
basis and majority of the population ; an indolent, pleasure- 
loving race, devoid of enterprise, and hard to move from the 
luxurious routine of their existence. Many Spaniards were 
resident there, the relics of the ancient regime. But the 
American residents were the life and enterprise of the place ; 
men of an adventurous cast of character, many of whom had 
left their native States for reasons which they were not accus- 
tomed to mention in polite companies. The rascals of all 
nations were largely represented. For fugitives and adven- 
turers, it was the Texas of a later day, and the San Francisco 
of the present. And there was a floating multitude of sailors, 
merchants, supercargoes, and other miscellaneous individuals, 
detained in the city by the war, unemployed, restless, discon- 
tented. 

It has been asserted a thousand times that the attach- 
ment of the Louisianians to the United States was neither 
general nor decided at this period. Governor Claiborne him- 
self was of that opinion, which he communicated to Greneral 
Jackson, and through him to history. Not only did the 
events of the succeeding winter gloriously disprove the charge, 
but investigation now enables us to show precisely how it 
arose. 

Between Governor Claiborne and a majority of the legis- 
lature there existed a bitter and long-standing feud. It 
dated as far back as 1806, when the Governor gave deep of- 
fence to a large number of the people by zealously seconding 
the measures of General Wilkinson, in crushing the enter- 
prise of Aaron Burr against Texas and Mexico. In 1812, 
when Louisiana was admitted into the Union, Claiborne was 
elected the first governor of the State, but soon found him- 
self involved in fierce hostility with the legislature. A com- 
plete history of this difierence would lead us too far from our 



16 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

object, and would be alike needless and uninteresting ; but a 
single occurrence of the spring session of 1814 will suffice to 
show the state of feeling existing between the executive and 
legislative powers. The resignation of a judge left a vacancy 
on the bench of the supreme court, to supply which the gov- 
ernor sent a respectable nomination to the legislature. That 
body refused to confirm the nomination. A second name was 
sent in by the governor with the same result. A third, a 
fourth, a fifth nomination was made, and still the irate legis- 
lature refused to confirm. Then the legislature sent a name 
to the governor, intimating that that was the gentleman, and 
he only, who would be acceptable. The governor, resenting 
this interference with his prerogative, declined to nominate 
the legislative favorite. After a " stormy session of two 
months," the legislature adjourned, leaving the judgeship 
vacant, and Governor Claiborne in the worst possible humor.* 

Each of these hostile powers had, as a matter of course, 
embittered partisans among the people. To this cause is 
partly to be attributed an event of which Governor Claiborne 
complains in one of his letters to Jackson. A requisition of 
a thousand militia had been made to assist in avenging the 
massacre of Fort Mims and reducing the Creeks to subjec- 
tion. The militia refused, point-blank, to leave the State, 
alleging that the forces of Louisiana were no more than suf- 
ficient for its own protection. If the State should be invaded, 
of which there was danger, they would be found prompt to 
expel the invader, but until that occurred they should remain 
at home. 

That the people and their rulers were divided among 
themselves ; that party spirit ran high ; that personal ani- 
mosities were numerous and bitter ; that the old population 
distrusted the new settlers, and the new settlers the old popu- 
lation, neither believing that the other luould risk life and 
fortune in defense of their homes and country, is evidently 
true. But that there was any considerable or respectable 

* Letter from New Orleans in N. T. Evening Post, summer of 1814. 



1814.] NEWORLEANS. ' 17 

party in the State ill-affected or disloyal to the United States, 
will never be asserted by any one who looks closely into the 
history of the period. Governor Claiborne, a worthy son of 
Virginia, a man of revolutionary ancestry, was entirely patri- 
otic in his feelings and well-intentioned in his measures. The 
Legislature was factious and inefficient. It contained a strong 
French element, and the French are wanting in the legislative 
faculty. The people were divided among themselves, fond 
of their ease, incredulous of the threatened danger, distrust- 
ful of their rulers and of one another, and in such a temper 
generally that no power within themselves could reunite or 
rouse them to exertion. 

Accordingly, nothing effective was done, or proposed, for 
the defense of the city as late as the middle of September. 
The British force that was beaten off and put to flight by 
the little garrison of Fort Bowyer could have taken New 
Orleans, if they had known exactly where to land, and by 
what road to march. They could have gone quietly into the 
public square of New Orleans and there encamped, without 
firing a shot or seeing an armed man. 

The singular effects produced upon the official mind by 
the arrival of Jean Lafitte's pregnant packet of papers we 
have seen. The publication of those papers, however, about 
the 12th of September, had results of a different character. 
There was a man among the people of New Orleans who 
knew too well the character of the Barratarian chiefs not to 
believe implicitly their word, and too intelligent not to com- 
prehend all the importance of their communications. That 
man, as before intimated, was Edward Livingston, the legal 
adviser of the Laiittes. 

Edward Livingston plays a first part in the career of An- 
drew Jackson. They met upon the threshold of their public li fe, 
and it so chanced that at each of the three great crises jf Jack- 
son's life Edward Livingston was by his side, always his able, 
his faithful, his eloquent ally. He is a man whose character 
aeeds elucidation and should have it. He was a much abler 
md better man than most of the American statesmen whos9 

VOL. II. — 2 



18 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

names are as familiar in our ears as household words. Touch- 
mg his moral charactec, some evil things are said— many 
noble and heroic things are known. To his talents and 
energy all his contemporaries testify. 

Born upon one of the hereditary estates of the Livings- 
tons^ in the State of New York, his early career at the bar 
and in Congress gave promise of the most splendid results to 
himself and to his country. Among the young men who be- 
lieved in Jefferson and democracy there was none whose ser- 
vices in battling with the reactionary ideas of Hamilton and 
Adams were more highly valued by Mr. Jefferson than his. His 
epeech against the Alien Bill was printed on satin, and hung 
up in thousands of the taverns and parlors of the democratic 
States. He saw them himself in the western country years 
after the odious law was repealed. He was one of the inti- 
mates of Aaron Burr, and I infer, from several particular 
circumstances, as well as from the general course of his early 
life, that the showy character of Burr was not without its in- 
fluence upon him. But this is only inference. Burr's lavish 
and wrong generosity, his fondness for dashing speculation 
his skill m the subtleties of the law and the mysteries of 
politics, his interest in codifying, as evinced by his passionate 
admiration of Jeremy Bentham, his perfect courage and won- 
derful tenacity of purpose, I am reminded of in reading of 
the character and deeds of Edward Livingston I see no 
credible traces of that laxity of moral principle, partly his 
own,^ partly belonging to his age, which marred much of 
Burr's career, and rendered his ruin irremediable. 
inr ■^^''''''Sston, too, was a ruined man, when Burr fell at 
Wechawken. Eeturning from Congress in 1801, he was 
appointed by President Jefferson Attorney for the United 
States for the State of New York, and by the Governor of 
tnat State Mayor of the city ; offices which yielded him a 
large revenue. It was Edward Livingston who, in 1803 as 
Mayor of the city, laid the foundation stone of our fine City 
Hall, m the presence of a vast assemblage, and gave, says the 
old newspapers, a hundred dollars as drink-money to the 



» 
1814.] NEW ORLEANS. 19 

workmen. During the prevalence of the yellow fever in New 
York, in 1803, the conduct of the Mayor was all that it could 
be of daring and humane. He kept a list of all the infected 
houses, and visited them every day, saving lives that have not 
yet all run their course. At length his own turn came. He 
was prostrated with the fell disease. " Then," he used to' 
say,* " I received the reward of what I had done for the peo- 
ple. As soon as it was known that I was in danger, the street 
in whiqii my house was situated was blocked by the crowd." 
Young people strove for the privilege of watching by his bed 
side, and every delicacy the city afibrded was sent in to him. 
He recovered to find himself a defaulter to the general gov- 
ernment to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, through the 
misconduct of his subordinates. He resigned both his offices; 
gave up his property; left his home and the scene of his early 
triumphs ; and did what Aaron Burr ought to have done, 
but had not the moral strength to do ; he went to New 
Orleans, and began again the practice of the law at the bot- 
tom of the ladder. 

It was not difficult for a man of his endowments and 
celebrity to reach speedily the first position at the bar of the 
South-west. But he was in search of rapid fortune, and en- 
gaged in a great land speculation, which embroiled him with 
Jefferson, involved him in long litigation, and made him un- 
justly odious to the Creoles of New Orleans. Sympathizing, 
as it appears, with the schemes of Burr for the conquest of 
Mexico, he led the American residents in their opposition to 
the high-handed measures of Wilkinson in crushing that en- 
terprise, and defended the confederates at the bar. He gave 
the Lafittes the aid of his legal talents ; and the moral feel- 
ing of that time does not seem to have revolted at the con- 
nection between those smugglers and a man who had been a 
conspicuous member of Congress, and was the leader of the 
bar and of the society of New Orleans. Nolte, it is true, 
speaks of Livingston as a man of no principle, and retails 

* Democratic Review, vol. viiL 



20 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

much scandal respecting his alleged sharp and unscrupulous 
practice of the law. But Nolte, besides being evidently the 
mere echo of the floating gossip of New Orleans, is a man 
who is incapable by nature of uttering, because he is incapa- 
ble by nature of knowing, the unadulterated truth. 

But if the professional life of Edward Livingston presents 
him sometimes in a doubtful light, his public actions seem to 
be altogether great and noble, and worthy of his honorable 
name. As a defender in arms of his adopted State, as ^ leader 
' of the people in the day of peril, as the codifier of their laws, 
as a wise and humane writer upon penal law, as the potent 
ally of Jackson, when Jackson was most in the right, he ren- 
dered such services as neither Louisiana nor the United States 
can forget. 

An anecdote, showing the quiet strength of this man's 
character, will be pardoned here, before we proceed. He had 
completed his great work on penal law, the result of three 
years' arduous toil. " Before it was delivered to the printer, 
anxious that no errors might remain in it, he passed a great 
part of the night in comparing it himself with the original 
draught. He went to bed at a late hour, with the pleasing 
reflection of having finished a most laborious task. Not long 
afterwards he was awakened by a cry of fire, which was found 
to proceed from the room where his papers had been left. 
They were all consumed. Not a note or memorandum was 
saved. Though stunned at first by the sudden misfortune, 
his equanimity and industry soon led him to repair it. Be- 
fore the close of the same day he quietly commenced the 
task of re-composition ; and, in two years afterward, he pre- 
sented his work to the Legislature of Louisiana, in a shape 
more perfect than that in which it originally, was." * 

Upon reading the papers forwarded by Lafitte, Livingston 
caused a meeting of the citizens of New Orleans to be con- 
vened at Tremoulet's coffee-house, to concert measures for de- 
fense, and to repel the insinuations of Nichol's proclamation. 
The meeting occurred on the 15th of September. Upon tak- 

* National Portrait Gallery. 



1814.] NEW ORLEANS. 21 

ing the chair, Livingston presented a series of spiiited reso- 
lutions, breathing union and defiance, and supported them by 
a speech of stirring eloquence. They were passed by accla- 
mation. A Committee of Public Defense, nine in number, 
with Edward Livingston at its head, was appointed, and di- 
rected to prepare an address to the people of the State. The 
meeting adjourned ; and the spirit that was to save the city 
began to live in the hearts of the people, The address of the 
Committee of Public Defense, written by the master-hand of 
the chairman, was soon promulgated, and contributed power- 
fully to rouse the apathetic and discordant community. 

This address, considering the circumstances, was really a 
masterpiece of composition. With all the requisite swell 
and animation of style, it was chiefly an artful appeal to self- 
interest, a play upon the fears of the slow and incredulous 
Creoles. " Fellow-citizens," began the concluding and clinch- 
ing paragraph, " tlie navigation of the Mississippi is as ne- 
cessaiy to two millions of our western brethren as the blood 
is to the pulsation of the heart. Those brave men, closely 
attached to the Union, will never suffer, whatever seducing 
offers may be made to them — they will never suffer the State 
of Louisiana to be subject to a foreign power, and should the 
events of war enable the enemy to occupy it, they will make 
every sacrifice to recover a country so necessary to their exist- 
ence. A war ruinous to you would be the consequence. The 
enemy, to whom you would have had the weakness to yield, 
would subject you to a military despotism, of all others the 
most dreadful ; your estates, your slaves, your persons would 
be put in requisition, and you would be forced at the point of 
the bayonet to fight against those very men whom you have 
voluntarily chosen for fellow-citizens and brethren." 

This address was widely circulated throughout the State, 
and served as a preparer-of-the-way for active operations. 
More than that it could not do. The publication of the ad- 
dress, and the gift of a saber to the commandant of Fort 
Bowyer, were the only acts of the Committee of Public De- 
fense that I find recorded. It may have induced the forma- 



22 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

tion of new uniformed companies of volunteers ; it may have 
stimulated the militia to a more vigorous drill ; it may have 
induced the Governor to convene the Legislature ; hut its 
main effect was upon the feelings and the fears of the people. 
On the 5th of October the Legislature, in obedience to 
the summons of Governor Claiborne, assembled at New Or- 
leans. Factious and incredulous of danger, it did nothing, it 
attempted nothing for the defense of the city. Disputes of 
the most trivial character engrossed the minds of the mem- 
bers. One faction so hated the Governor that it was enough 
for him to propose or desire a measure for them to vote it 
down. A committee was named to inquire what was needful 
to be done for defense, but four weeks passed away before it 
reported, and then there was no need of its reporting. Thanks 
were voted to General Jackson for his recent services, and 
then the vote was reconsidered. It was proposed that the 
members should take an additional oath of fidelity to the 
United States ; and after wasting precious days in debate, 
the question was postponed. No money was appropriated ; 
no new forces were raised ; no law designed to annoy the 
enemy or preserve the city was passed. Not that there 
were not efficient and patriotic men in the Legislature ; but 
what can a few individuals ejffect in a body whose minds are 
as lethargic as their ill-temper is chronic, active and bitter ? 
Louis Louallier well described the state of things, in his Re- 
port as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, pre- 
sented on the 22d of November, after the Legislature had 
been in session six weeks. " Are we always," he asked, " to 
see the several departments intrusted with our defense lan- 
guishing in inactivity, which would be inexcusable even in 
time of peace ? No proof of patriotism appears but in a 
disposition to avoid all expense, all fatigue. Nothing has yet 
been done. No success can be hoped for but by a course the 
very opposite of that hitherto. If the Legislature superadds 
its inaction to that of the community, capitulation, like that 
of Alexandria, must^ before long, be the result of such cul- 
pable negligence." 



1814,] NEWOKLEANS. 23 

Their leaders thus divided and inert, what could be ex- 
pected of the people ? It was a time of universal fault-find- 
ing. The people denounced the Legislature. The Legislature 
accused the Governor. The Governor divided the blame be- 
tween the Legislature and the people. The Creoles said the 
Americans were mere adventurers, who would not fight for 
the soil they did not love. The Americans had faith neither 
in the efficiency nor the loyalty of the Creoles. Both Ameri- 
cans and Creoles distrusted the floating population of Irish 
and French emigrants. All had some fear of an insurrection 
of the slaves. Every man had his scheme, or his system of 
measures, which, he knew, would save the city, if it were 
adopted. But none could bring any plan to bear, or get all 
the opportunity he wanted for making it known. 

In a word, there was no central power or man in New 
Orleans in whom the people sufficiently confided, or who pos- 
sessed the requisite lawful authority, to call out the resources 
of the State and direct them to the single object of defeating 
the expected invader. There was talent enough, patriotism 
enough, self-forgetting zeal enough. The uniting man alone 
was wanting ; a man of renown sufficient to inspire confi- 
dence — a man unknown to the local animosities, around 
whom all parties could rally without conceding anything to 
one another. 

Precisely such an individual, the very man of all others 
for such a time and scene, was close at hand. 



CHAPTEK II. 

ARKIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON. 

Of the mode of General Jackson's entrance into New Or- 
leans we have a pleasant and picturesque account from the 
pen of Mr. Alexander Walker, a resident of the Crescent city, 
and author of the little work, entitled, " Jackson and New 
Orleans ;" one of the best-executed and most entertaining 



24 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

pieces of American history in existence. What Mr. Walker 
has told so interestingly and well need not be told again in 
any words but his : — 

" The Bayou St. John empties into Lake Pontchartrain 
at a distance of seven miles from the city. Here, at its 
mouth, may be seen the remains, in an excellent state of 
preservation, of an old Spanish fort, which was built many 
years ago by one of the Spanish governors, as a protection of 
this important point ; for, by glancing at the map of New 
Orleans and its vicinity, it will be seen that a maritime power 
could find no easier approach to the city than through the 
Bayou St. John. This fort was built, as the Spaniards built 
all their fortifications in this State, where stone could not be 
procured, of small brick, imported from Europe, cemented 
with a much more adhesive and permanent material than is 
now used for building, and with walls of great thickness and 
solidity. The foundation and walls of the fort still remain, 
interesting vestiges of the old Spanish dominion. On the 
mound and within the walls stands a comfortable hotel, 
where, in the summer season, may be obtained healthful 
cheer, generous liquors, and a pleasant view of the placid and 
beautiful lake, over whose gentle bosom the sweet south wind 
comes with just power enough to raise a gentle ripple on its 
mirror-like surface, bringing joy and relief to the wearied 
townsman and debilitated invalid. What a diiferent scene 
did this fort present forty years ago ! Then there were large 
cannon looking frowningly through those embrasures, which 
are now filled up with dirt and rubbish, and around them 
clustered glittering bayonets and fierce-looking men, full of 
military ardor and fierce determination. There, too, was 
much of the reality, if not of ' the pomp and circumstance' 
of war. High above the fort, from the summit of a lofty 
staff, floated not the showy banner of old Spain, with its glit- 
tering and mysterious emblazonry, but that simplest and most 
beautiful of all national standards, the stars and stripes of 
the republic of the United States. 

" From the Fort St. John to the city the distance is six 



1814.] ARKIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON. 25 

or seven miles. Along tlie bayou, whicli twists its sinuous 
course like a huge dark green serpent through the swamp, 
lies a good road, hardened by a pavement of shells, taken 
from the bottom of the lake. Hereon city Jehus now exer- 
cise their fast nags and lovely ladies take their evening air- 
ings. But at the time our narrative commences it was a 
very bad road, being low, muddy, and broken. The ride, 
which now occupies some twenty minutes very delightfully, 
was then a w^carisome two hours' journey. 

" It was along this road, early on the morning of the 2d 
December, 1814, that a party of gentlemen rode at a brisk 
trot from the lake towards the city. The mist, which during 
the night broods over the swamp, had not cleared off. The 
air was chilly, damp and uncomfortable. The travelers, how- 
ever, were evidently hardy men, accustomed to exposure, and 
intent upon purposes too absorbing to leave any consciousness 
of external discomforts. Though devoid of all military dis- 
play, and even of the ordinary equipments of soldiers, the 
bearing and appearance of these men betokened their connec- 
tion with the profession of arms. The chief of the party, 
which was composed of five or six persons, was a tall, gaunt 
man, of very erect carriage, with a countenance full of stern 
decision and fearless energy, but furrowed with care and 
anxiety. His complexion was sallow and unhealthy ; his 
hair was iron grey, and his body thin and emaciated, like 
that of one who had just recovered from a lingering and pain- 
ful sickness. But the fierce glare of his bright and hawk-like 
eye betrayed a soul and spirit which triumphed over all 
the infirmities of the body. His dress was simple and nearly 
threadbare. A small leather cap protected his head, and a 
short Spanish blue cloak his body, whilst his feet and legs 
were encased in high dragoon boots, long ignorant of polish 
01 blacking; which reached to the knees. In age he ap- 
peared to have passed about forty-five winters — the season 
for which his stern and hardy nature seemed peculiarly 
adapted. 

" The others of the party were younger men, whose spirits 



26 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

and movements were more elastic and careless, and who re- 
lieved the weariness of the journey with many a jovial story. 

" Arriving at the high ground near the junction of the 
Canal Carondelet with the Bayou St. John, where a bridge 
spanned the Bayou, and quite a village had grown up, the 
travelers halted before an old Spanish villa, and throwing 
their bridles to some grinning negro boys at the gates, dis- 
mounted and walked into the house. On entering the gal- 
lery they were received in a very cordial and courteous manner 
by J. Kilty Smith, Esq., then a leading New Orleans merchant 
of enterprise and public spirit, and who, a few months ago, still 
survived, one of the most venerable of that small band of the 
early American settlers in the great commercial emporium of 
the South, who, outliving several generations, still linger in 
green old age amid the scenes of their youthful struggles, and 
survey, with proud satisfaction, the greatness to which that 
city has grown, whose tender infancy they witnessed and 
helped to nurse and rear into a sturdy and robust maturity. 
On the bayou, in an agreeable suburban retreat, Mr. Smith 
had established himself. Here he dispensed a liberal hospi- 
taUty, and lived in such a style as was regarded in those 
economical days, and by the more frugal Spanish and French 
populations, as quite extravagant and luxurious. 

" Ushering them into the marble-paved hall of his old 
Spanish villa, Mr. Smith soon made his guests comfortable. 
It was evident that they were not unexpected. Soon the 
company were all seated at the breakfast table, which fairly 
groaned with the abundance of generous viands, prepared in 
that style of incomparable cookery for which the Creoles of 
Louisiana are so renowned. Of this rich and savory food the 
younger guests partook quite heartily ; but the elder and 
leader of the party was more careful and abstemious, confin- 
ing himself to some boiled hominy, whose whiteness rivaled 
that of the damask table-cloth. In the midst of the break- 
fast, and whilst the company were engaged in discussing the 
news of the day, a servant whispered to the host that he was 
wanted in the ante-room. . Excusing himself to his guests, 



1814.] AKKIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON. 27 

Mr. Smith retired to the ante-room, and there found himself 
in the presence of an indignant and excited Creole lady, a 
neighbor, who had kindly consented to superintend the prepa- 
rations in Mr. Smith's bachelor establishment for the recep- 
tion of some distinguished strangers, and who in that behalf 
had imposed upoji herself a severe responsibility and labor. 

" ' Ah ! Mr. Smith,' exclaimed the deceived lady, in a half 
reproachful, half indignant style, ' how could you play such 
a trick upon me ? You asked me to get your house in order 
to receive a great G-eneral. I did so. I worked myself al- 
most to death to make your house com7ne il faut, and pre- 
pared a splendid dtjeCmer, and now I find that all my labor 
is thrown away upon an ugly, old Kaintuck-flat-boatman, 
instead of your grand General, with plumes, epaulettes, long 
sword, and moustache.' 

" It was in vain that Mr. Smith strove to remove the de- 
lusion from the mind of the irate lady, and convince her 
that that plainly-dressed, jaundiced, hard-featured, unshorn 
man, in the old blue coat and bullet buttons, was that famous 
warrior, Andrew Jackson. 

" It was, indeed, Andrew Jackson, who had come fresh 
from the glories and fatigue of his brilliant Indian campaigns, 
in this unostentatious manner, to the city which, he had been 
sent to protect from one of the most formidable perils that 
ever threatened a community. Cheerfully and happily had 
he embraced this awful responsibily. He had come to defend 
a defenseless city, situated in the most remote section of the 
Union — a city which had neither fleets nor forts, means nor 
men — a city whose population were comparatively strangers 
to that of the other States, who sprung from a different na- 
tional stock, and spoke a different language from that of the 
overwhelming majority of their countrymen — a language en- 
tirely unknown to the General — to defend it, too, against a 
power then victorious over the conqueror of the world, at 
whose feet the mighty Napoleon lay a prostrate victim and 
chained captive. 

" After partaking of then- breakfast, the General, taking 



28 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

out his watcli, reminded his companions of the necessity of 
their early entrance into the city. In a few minutes carriages 
were procured, and the whole party rode toward the city by 
the old Bayou road. The General was accompanied by Major 
Hughes, commander of the Fort St. John, by Major Butler, 
and Captain Reid, his secretary, who afterwards became one 
of his biographers, Major Chotard, and other officers of the 
staff. The cavalcade proceeded to the elegant residence of 
Daniel Clark, the first representative of Louisiana in the Con- 
gress of the United States, a gentleman of Irish ■ extraction, 
who had acquired great influence, popularity, and wealth in 
the city, and died shortly after the commencement of the war 
of 1812. Here Jackson and his aids were met by a committee 
of the State and city authorities and of the people, at the 
head of whom was the Governor of the State, who, in earnest 
but rather rhetorical terms, welcomed the General to the city, 
and proffered him every aid of the authorities and the people, 
to enable him to justify the title which they were already con- 
ferring upon him of " Saviour of New Orleans." His Ex- 
cellency, W. C. C. Claiborne, the first American Governor of 
Louisiana, a Virginian of good address and fluent elocution, 
then in the bloom of life, was supported by the leading civil 
and military, characters of the city. There in the group was 
that redoubtable naval hero. Commodore Patterson, a stout, 
compact, gallant-bearing man, in the neat undress naval uni- 
form. His manner was slightly marked by hauteur, but hi^s 
movement and expression indicated the energy and boldness 
of a man of decided action, as well as confident bearing. 

" Here, too, was the then Mayor of New Orleans, Nicho- 
las Girod, a rotund, affable, pleasant old French gentleman, 
of easy, polite manners. There, too, was Edward Livingston, 
then the leading legal character in the city — a tall, high- 
shouldered man, of ungraceful figure and homely counte- 
nance, but whose high brow, and large, thoughtful eyes, 
indicated a profound and powerful intellect. By his side 
stood his youthful rival at the ^ar — an elegant, graceful, and 
showily-dressed gentleman, whose figure combined the com- 



1814.] AKKIVAL OF GENEBAL JACKSON. 29 

pact dignity and solidity of the soldier with the ease and 
grace of the man of fashion and taste, and who, as the sole 
survivor of those named, retained, in a remarkable degree, the 
elegance and grace which characterized his bearing forty years 
ago to the day of his very recent and lamented decease. We 
refer to John R. Grymes, so long the veteran and chief orna- 
ment of the New Orleans Bar. 

" Such were the leading personages in the assembly which 
greeted Jackson's entrance into New Orleans. 

" The General replied briefly to the welcome of the Gov- 
ernor. He declared that he had come to protect the city, and 
he would drive their enemies into the sea, or perish in the 
effort. He called on all good citizens to rally around him in 
this emergency, and, ceasing all differences and divisions, to 
unite with him in the patriotic resolve to save their city from 
the dishonor and disaster which a presumptuous enemy 
threatened to inflict upon it. This address was rendered into 
French by Mr. Livingston. It produced an electric effect 
upon all present. Their countenances cleared up. Bright 
and hopeful were, the words and looks of all who heard the 
thrilling tones and caught the heroic glance of the hawk-eyed 
General. The General and staff then reentered their car- 
riages. A cavalcade was formed, and proceeded to the build- 
ing, 106 ivoyal-street — one of the few brick buildings then 
existing in New Orleans, which now stands but little changed 
or affected by the lapse of so many years. A flag unfurled 
from the third story soon indicated to the population the 
headquarters of the General who had come so suddenly and 
quietly to their rescue." 

Jackson has come ! There was magic in the news. Every 
witness, living and dead, testifies to the electric effect of the 
General's quiet and sudden arrival. There was a truce at 
once to indecision, to indolence, to incredulity, to factious 
debate, to paltry contentions, to wild alarm. He had come, 
so worn down with disease and the fatigue of his ten days' 
ride on horseback that he was more fit for the hospital than 
the field. But there was that in his manner and aspect which 



30 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

revealed the master. That will of his triumphed over the 
languor and anguish of disease, and every one who approached 
him felt that the man for the hour was there. 

He began his work without the loss of one minute. The 
unavoidable formalities of his reception were no sooner over 
than he mounted his horse again, and rode out to review the 
uniformed companies of the city. These companies consisted 
then of several hundred men, the elite of the city — merchants, 
lawyers, the sons of planters, clerks and others, who were 
well equipped, and not a little proud of their appearance and 
discipline. The General complimented them warmly, ad- 
dressed the principal officers, inquired respecting the num- 
bers, history and organization of the companies, and left 
them captivated with his frank and straight-forward mode of 
procedure. 

The new aid-de-camp, Mr. Livingston, as he rode from the 
parade-ground by the General's side, invited him home to 
dinner. The General promptly accepted the invitation. It 
chanced that the beautiful and gay Mrs. Livingston, the leader 
of society then at New Orleans, both Creole and American, 
had a little dinner party that day, composed only of ladies, 
most of whom were young and lively Creole belles. Mr. Liv- 
ingston had sent home word that General Jackson had arrived, 
and that he should ask him to dinner ; a piece of news that 
threw the hospitable lady into consternation. " What shall 
we do with this wild General from Tennessee ?" whispered 
the girls to one another; for they had all conceived that Gen- 
eral Jackson, however becomingly he might comport himself in 
an Indian fight, would be most distressingly out of place at 
a fashionable dinner party in the first drawing-room of the 
most polite city in America. He was announced. The young 
ladies were seated about the room. Mrs. Livingston sat upon 
a sofa at the head of the apartment, anxiously awaiting the 
inroad of the wild fighter into the regions sacred hitherto to 
elegance and grace. He entered. Erect, composed, bronzed 
with long exposure to the sun, his hair just beginning to turn 
grey, clad in his uniform of coarse blue cloth and yellow buck- 



1814.] AKRIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON. 31 

skin, his bigli boots flapping loosely about bis slender legs, 
he looked, as he stood near the door of the drawing-room, the 
very picture of a war-worn noble warrior and commander. 
He bowed to the ladies magnificently, who all rose at his en- 
trance, as much from amazement as from politeness. Mrs. 
Livingston advanced toward him. With a dignity and grace 
seldom equaled, never surjDassed, he went forward to meet 
her, conducted her back to her sofa, and sat by her side. The 
fair Creoles were dumb with astonishment. In a few minutes 
dinner was served, and the General continued, during the 
progress of the meal, to converse in an easy, agreeable manner, 
in the tone of society, of the sole topic of the time, the coming 
invasion. He assured the ladies that he felt perfectly confident 
of defending the city, and begged that they would give them- 
selves no uneasiness with regard to that matter. He rose 
soon from the table and left the house with Mr. Livingston. 
[n one chorus, the young ladies exclaimed to their hostess, 

" Is this your back woods-man ? Why, madam, he is a 
prince !"* 

Eeturuing to his quarters, the General summoned the en- 
gineers resident in the city ; among others. Major Latour, 
afterwards the historian of the campaign. The vulnerable 
points and practicable approaches were explained and dis- 
cussed, and the readiest mode of defending each was consid- 
ered and determined upon. Every bayou connecting the city 
with the adjacent bays, and through them with the Gulf of 
Mexico, was ordered to be obstructed by earth and sunken 
logs, and a guard to be posted at its mouth to give warning 
of an enemy's approach. It was determined that the neigh- 
boring planters should be invited to aid in the various works 
by gangs of slaves. Young gentlemen pressed to head quar- 
ters offering to serve as aids to the General. Edward Liv- 
ingston, whose services in that capacity had been previously 
offered and accepted, was with the General from the first, 
doing duty as aid-de-camp, secretary, translator, confidential 

* To a lady present at the dinner party the reader ia indebted for thia pretty 
Btory. 



32 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

adviser, and connecting link generally between the Com- 
mander-in-Chief and the heterogeneous multitude he had 
come to defend. Never before, in the space of a few hours, 
did such a change come over the spirit of a threatened 
and imperiled city. The work to be done was ascertained 
and distributed during that afternoon and evening ; and it 
could be said, that before the city slept, every man in it able 
and willing to assist in preparing for the reception of the 
enemy, whether by mind or muscle, had his task assigned 
him, and was eager to enter upon its performance. 

The demeanor of General Jackson on this occasion was 
such as to inspire peculiar confidence. It was that of a man 
entirely resolved, and entirely certain of being able to do 
what he had come to do. He never admitted a doubt of de- 
feating the enemy. For his own part, he had but one simple 
plan to propose, nor would hear of any other ; to make all 
the preparations possible in the time and circumstances ; to 
strike the enemy wherever, whenever, in what force soever, he 
might appear ; and to drive him back headlong into the sea, 
or bring him prisoner to New Orleans. A spirit of this kind 
is very contagious, particularly among such a susceptible 
and imaginative people as the French Creoles — a people not 
wise in counsel, not gifted with the instinct of legislation, but 
mighty and terrible when strongly commanded. The new 
impulse from the General's quarters spread throughout the 
city. Hope and resolution sat on every countenance. 

Jackson was up betimes on the following morning, and 
set out in a barge, accompanied by aids and engineers, to see 
with his own eyes the lower part of the river. The principal 
mouth of the Mississippi was naturally but erroneously the 
first object of his solicitude and he had dispatched Col. A. 
P. Hayne from Mobile to the Balize, to ascertain whether 
the old fort there commanded the mouth of the river, and 
whether it could be made available for preventing the en- 
trance of a hostile fleet. Colonel Hayne reported it useless. 
Some miles higher up the river, however, at a point where the 
navigation was peculiarly difficult, was Fort Philip, which, 



1814.] ARKIVAL OF GENERAL JACKSON. 33 

it was supposed, and tlie event proved, could be rendered an 
impassable barrier to the enemy's ships. Thither Jackson 
repaired. He perceived the immense importance of the posi- 
tion, and, with the assistance of Major Latour, drew such 
plans, and suggested such alterations of the works, as made 
the fort entirely equal to the defense of the river. The stream, 
as every one knows, is narrow and swift, and presents so many 
obstacles to the ascent of large vessels, that an enemy unpro- 
vided with steamboats, would scarcely have attempted to 
reach New Orleans by the river, even if no fort was to be 
passed. Jackson returned to the city after six days absence, 
with little apprehension of danger from that quarter. 

Desirous of seeing every thing for himself, he proceeded 
immediately upon a rapid tour of inspection along the bord- 
ers of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, those broad, 
shallow bays which afford to the commerce of New Orleans 
so convenient a back gate. He visited every bayou aud for- 
tification, suggesting additional works, and stimulating the 
zeal of the people. He had then completed the first survey 
of his position, and, upon the whole, the result was assuring. 
He thought well of his situation. At least he had little fear 
of a surprise. 

One glance at the lake approaches to the crescent city, 
before we proceed. Lake Pontchartrain is land-locked, except 
where a narrow strait connects it with Lake Borgne. That 
strait was defended by a fortification which, it was hoped, was 
capable of beating off the enemy. But not by that alone. 
Lake Borgne, too shallow for the admission of large sea-going 
vessels, would be crossed by' the enemy, if crossed at all, in 
small coasting craft or ships' boats. Accordingly, on that lake 
Commodore Patterson had stationed a fleet of gun-boats, six 
in number, carrying in all twenty-three guns and one hundred 
and eighty-two men, the whole under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones. Lieutenant Jones was 
ordered to give prompt notice of the enemy's coming, and if 
threatened with attack to retire before the enemy, and lead 
him on to the entrance of the strait that led into Lake Pont- 

VOL. II. — 3 



34 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

cbartrain, and there anchor, and fight to the last extremity. 
With the peculiar advantages of position which the place af- 
forded, it was confidently expected that he would be able to 
defeat ?my force of small craft that the enemy were likely to 
have at command. 

It is evident that Lake Pontchartrain was universally re- 
garded at the time as the most natural and obvious means of 
reaching the city, and the gun-boats were chiefly relied upon 
for its defense. Upon them, too, the General mainly relied for 
the first information of the enemy's arrival. If the gun-boats 
failed, the fort upon the strait was open to attack. If the gun- 
boats failed, the vigilance of the pickets at the mouths of the 
bayous was the sole safegiiard against a surprise. If the gun- 
boats failed, Lake Borgne offered no obstacle to the approach 
of an enemy, except its shallowness and its marshy shores. 
If the gun-boats failed, nothing could hinder the enemy from 
gaining a foothold within a very few miles of the city, unless 
the sentinels should descry their approach in time to send 
ample nc-tice to the General. While the gun-boats continued 
to cruise in the lake, the city had a certain ground of security, 
and could sleep without fear of waking to find British regi- 
ments under its windows. # 

But where was the army with which General Jackson 
was to execute his design of hurling into the Gulf of Mexico 
the invading host ? Let us see what force he had, and what 
forces he expected. 

The troops then in or near New Orleans, and its sole de- 
fenders as late as the middle of December, were these : two 
half-filled, newly-raised regiments of regular troops, number- 
ing about eight hundred men ; Major Blanche's high-spirited 
battalion of uniformed volunteers, about five hundred in 
number ; two regiments of State militia, badly equipped, 
some of them armed with fowling pieces, others witn mus- 
kets, others with rifles, some without arms, all imperfectly 
disciplined ; a battalion of free men of color ; the whole 
amounting to about two thousand men. Two vessels-of-war 
lav at anchor in the river, the immortal little schooner Caro* 



1814.] ARRIVAL aF GENERAL JACKSON. 35 

Una and the ship Louisiana, neither of them manned, and no 
one dreaming of what importance they were to prove, dom- 
modore Patterson and a few other naval officers were in the 
city ready when the hour should come, and, indeed, already 
rendering yeoman's service in many capacities. General Cof- 
fee, with the army of Pensacola, was approaching the city by 
slow marches, contending manfully with an inclement season, 
swollen streams, roads almost impassable, and scant forage. 
He had three hundred men, nearly a tenth of his force, sick 
with fever, dysentery, and exhaustion. But he was coming. 
General Carroll, burning with zeal to join his old friend and 
commander, had raised a volunteer force in Tennessee early 
in the autumn, composed of men of substance and respecta- 
bility, and, after incredible exertions and many vexatious de- 
lays, had got them afloat upon the Cumberland. The State 
had been so stripped of arms that Carroll's regiment had not a 
weapon to every ten men. So many men had gone to the 
wars from Tennessee, that Peter Cartwright, that valiant son 
of the Methodist Church militant, found his congregations 
thin, and his ingatherings of new members far below the 
average — " So many of our members," he says, " went into 
the war, and deemed it their duty to defend our common 
country under General Jackson." An extraordinary rise of 
the Cumberland, such as seldom occurs in November, enabled 
General Carroll to make swift progress into the Ohio, and 
thence into the Mississippi, where another piece of good for- 
tune befel him, so important that it may almost be said to 
have saved New Orleans. He overtook a boat load of mus- 
kets which enabled him to arm his men, and drill them daily 
in their use on the roofs of his fleet of arks. 

And thereby hangs a tale, only brought to light within 
the last year. That priceless load of muskets was one of two 
boat-loads that left Pittsburgh for New Orleans about the 
same time. For economy's sake, their captains were per- 
mitted by the contractor to stop at the river-towns for the 
purpose of trading. On one of the boats, however, there 
chanced to take passage a merchant of Natchez, Mr. Thomas 



36 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

L. Servoss, who had visited New York on business, and was 
then on his return home. When he left New York, that city 
was in a ferment on account of Mr. Gallatin's warning letter, 
and extensive ^^reparations were in 2:)rogress for the defence of 
the city against the expected expedition. But Mr. Servoss 
Lad received letters from the delegate in Congress from the 
Mississippi territory, which convinced him that New Orleans, 
not New York, was the enemy's object. Full of this idea, he 
urged the captain of his boat, by every means in his power, 
to hasten along without stopping. Captain, crew and pas- 
sengers, all worked together for this object, and with such 
success, as to reach the lower Mississippi in time to supply 
General Carroll's regiment. The other boat, on those days 
when Jackson would have bought its precious freight with 
half its weight in gold, was four hundred miles up the river ; 
and its astonished captain was soon after brought down to 
the city in irons to answer for his supposed dilatoriness. 

Two thousand Kentuckians, under General Thomas ana 
General Adair, were also on their way down the Mississippi ; 
the worst provided body of men, perhaps, that ever went fif- 
teen hundred miles from home to help defend a sister State. 
A few rifles they had among them, but no clothing suitable 
for the season, no blankets, no tents, no equipage. Besides 
food, they were furnished with just one article of necessity, 
namely, a cooking kettle to every eighty men !'* In a flotilla 
of boats, hastily patched together on the banks of the Ohio, 
they started on their voyage, carrying provisions enough for 
exactly half the distance. They were agreeably disappointed, 
however, in their expectation of living a month on half ra- 
tions, by overtaking a boat loaded with flour ; and, thus sup- 
plied, they went on their way, ragged but rejoicing. 

Such was General Jackson's situation — such the posture 
of affairs in New Orleans — such the means and prospects of 
defense — on the fourteenth of December : two or three thou- 
sand troops in the city ; four thousand more within ten or fif- 

* Letter of General Adair to General Jackson, in Kentucky Reporter, 1817 



1814.] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 37 

teen days' march ; six gun-boats on Lake Borgne ; two armed 
vessels on the river ; a small garrison of regulars at Fort St. 
Philip ; another at the fort between the two lakes ; the ob- 
struction of the bayous still in progress ; the citizens hopeful 
and resolute, most of them at work, every man where he 
could do most for the cause ; the General returning to his 
quarters from his tour of inspection. 



CHAPTEK III. 

RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 

At the western extremity of the island of Jamaica there 
are two headlands, eight miles apart, whicb inclose Negril 
Bay, and render it a safe and convenient anchorage. If the 
good Creoles of New Orleans could have surveyed, from the 
summit of one of those headlands, the scene which Negril 
Bay presented on the twenty-fourth of November, 1814, it is 
questionable if General Jackson could have given them the 
slightest confidence in his ability to defend their native city. 
The spectacle would have given pause even to the General 
himself 

It was the rendezvous of the British fleet designed for the 
capture of New Orleans. The day just named was the one 
appointed for its final inspection and review, previous to its 
departure for Lake Borgne. A fleet of fifty armed vessels, 
many of them of the first magnitude, covered the waters of 
the bay. There lay the huge Tonnant, of eighty guns, one 
of Nelson's prizes at the battle of the Nile, now exhibiting 
the pennant of Sir Alexander Cockrane, the admiral in com- 
mand of this imposing fleet. Eear-Admiral Sir Edward Cod- 
rington was also on board the Tonnant, a name of renown in 
the naval history of England. There was the Royal Oak, a 
seventy-four, the ship of Rear- Admiral Malcolm. Four otner 



"N 



38 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1814 

se-venty-fours, the Norge, the Bedford, the Asia, the Kami- 
lies, formed part of the fleet ; the last-named in command of 
Sir Thomas Hardy, the heloved of Nelson, to whom the dying 
hero gasped those immortal words, " Kiss me, Hardy ; I die 
1 ^ content." There, too, were the Dictator, of fifty guns ; the 
Gorgon, of forty-four ; the Annide, of thirty-eight, com- 
manded by Sir Thomas Trowbridge, of famous memory ; the 
Sea-horse, of thirty-five, under Captain James Alexander 
Gordon, late the terror of the Potomac ; the Belle Poule, of 
thirty-eight, a ship of fame. Nine other ships, mounting 
thirty-eight, thirty-six, and thirty-two guns ; five smaller 
vessels, each carrying sixteen guns ; three bomb craft and 
eleven transports completed the formidable catalogue. Nor 
were these all the vessels destined to take part in the enter- 
prise. A fleet from Bordeaux was still on the ocean to join 
the expedition at the entrance of Lake Borgne, where, also, 
Captain Percy's squadron from Pensacola, with Nichols and 
the brave Captain Lockyer, were to effect a junction. And 
yet other vessels, direct from England, with the general ap- 
pointed to command the army, were expected. 

The decks of the ships in Negril Bay were crowded with 
red-coated soldiers. The four regiments, numbering, with 
their sappers and artillerymen, three thousand one hundred 
men, who had fought the battle of Bladensburg, burnt the 
public buildings of Washington, and lost their general near 
Baltimore, the summer before, were on board the fleet. Four 
regiments, under General Keane, had come from England 
direct to reinforce this army. Two regiments, composed in 
part of negro troops, supposed to be peculiarly adapted to 
the climate of New Orleans, had beea drawn from the 
West Indies to join the expedition. The fleet could furnish, 
if required, a body of fifteen hundred marines. General 
Keane found himself, on his arrival from Plymouth, in com- 
mand of an army of seven thousand four hundred and fifty 
men, which the marines of the fleet could swell to eight 
thousand nine hundred and fifty. The number of sailora 
could scarcely have been less than ten thousand, of whom 3 



1814.] KENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 39 

large proportion could, and did, assist in the operations con- 
templated. 

Here was a force of nearly twenty thousand men, a fleet 
of fifty ships, carrying a thousand guns, and perfectly ap- 
pointed in every particular, commanded by officers some of 
whom had grown gray in victory. And this great armament 
was about to be directed against poor, swamp-environed New 
Orleans, with its ragged, half-armed defenders floating down 
the Mississippi, or marching wearily along through the mire 
and flood of the Gulf shores, commanded by a general who 
had seen fourteen months' service, and caught one glimpse of 
a civilized foe. The greater part of General Keane's army 
were fresh from the fields of the Peninsula, and had been led 
by victorious "Wellington into France, to behold and share in 
that final triumph of British arms To these Peninsular 
heroes were added the ninety- third Highlanders, recently from 
the Cape of Good Hope ; one of the " praying regiments" of 
the British army ; as stalwart, as brave, as completely ap- 
pointed a body of men as had stood in arms since Cromwell's 
Ironsides gave liberty and greatness to England. Indeed, 
there was not a regiment of those which had come from Eng- 
land to form this army which had not won brilliant distinc- 
tion in strongly-contested fields. The elite of England's army 
and navy were afloat in Negril Bay on that bright day of 
November, when the last review took place. 

The scene can be easily imagined — the great fleet of ships 
spread far and wide over the bay, gay with flags and alive 
with throngs of red uniforms ; boats rowed with the even 
stroke of men-of-war's-men gliding about among the ships, or 
going rapidly to and from the shore. On board all was ani- 
mation and movement. The most incorrigible croaker in the 
fleet could not, as he looked out upon the scene on that bright 
day of the tropical winter, have felt a doubt that the most 
easy and complete success awaited the enterprise. As every 
precaution had been taken to conceal the destination of the 
expedition, the officers expected to find the city wholly unpre- 
pared for defense To occupy, not to conquer Louisiana, was 



40 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

supposed to be but the preliminary business of the army. 
From New Orleans, as the basis of operations, they expected 
to ascend the Mississippi, pushing their conquests to the right 
and left, and, effecting a junction with the army of Canada, 
to overawe and hem in the western States. So certain were 
they of taking New Orleans, that several gentlemen with their 
families were on board the fleet who had been appointed to 
civil offices in the city of New Orleans. Among others, a 
collector for the port, accompanied by his five beautiful 
daughters. Many wives of officers were on board, anticipating 
a pleasant winter among the gay Creoles of the Crescent City. 
Music, dancing, dramatic entertainments, and all the diver- 
sions of shipboard, were employed to relieve the monotony of 
the voyage. 

The day after the review, the Tonnant, the Eamilies, and 
two of the brigs weighed anchor and put to sea. The next 
morning the rest of the fleet followed. 

The voyage to Lake Borgne, the landing of the army on 
its marshy shores, and indeed every incident of the campaign, 
so far as the English were concerned, has been graphically 
described by officers who served in the expedition. These 
gentlemen evidently had no thought but to tell the unvarn- 
ished truth. The candor and modesty, the highbred, unaf- 
fected kindliness of tone which mark all of those personal 
narratives that I have been able to procure, give the reader 
many a pang to think that the stupidity or the ambition of 
cabinets should have made it the duty of such men, so valiant 
and good-humored, to go to the Delta of the Mississippi for a 
purpose so unnatural and absurd. It may also be truly said 
that the English personal nan-atives, both of the revolution- 
ary war and of the war of 1812, give us a higher idea of 
American courage and endurance than is always afforded by 
our own too eulogistic historians. This is partly owing to 
the fact that we read the English narrative without any sus- 
picion that the good conduct of Americans is overstated, or 
their failures concealed, and partly because it belongs to the 
character of genuine Englishmen to do justice to an enemy 



1814.] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 41 

that defeats them, as well as to a rival by whom in peaceful 
pm'suits they are surpassed. In unfolding, therefore, tho 
wonderful series of events which followed the sailing of the 
fleet from Negril hay, I shall, as often as possible, let Eng- 
lish officei-s, who took j)art in them, tell their side of the 
strange, the almost incredible story. 

The following is from that singularly interesting work by 
the " Subaltern," entitled " The British Campaigns at Wash- 
ington and New Orleans," published at London in the year 
1836.* The passage contains some errors, which will be ob- 
vious to the reader, and omits several important circumstances, 
which will be supplied hereafter. 

The fleet was weighing anchor, and standing down Ne- 
gril Bay : 

" Tt is impossible," says the Subaltern, " to conceive a finer sea view 
than this general stir presented. Our fleet amounted now to upwards of 
fifty sail, many of them vessels-of-war, which, shaking loose their topsails, 
and lifting their anchors at the same moment, gave to Negril Bay an ap- 
pearance of bustle such as it has seldom been able to present. In half an 
hour all the canvass was set, and the ships moved slowly and proudly from 
their anchorage, till, having cleared the head-lands, and caught the fliir 
breeze which blew without, they bounded over the water with the speed 
of eagles, and long before dark the coast of Jamaica had disappeared. 

" There is something in rapidity of motion, whether it be along a high 
road, or across the deep, extremely elevating ; nor was its effect unper- 
ceived on the present occasion. It is true that there were other causes for 
the high spirits which now pervaded the armament, but I question if any 
proved more eOicient in their production than the astonishing rate of our 
Bailing. Whether the business we were about to undertake would prove 
bloody, or the reverse, entered not into the calculations of a single indi- 
vidual in the fleet. The sole subject of remark was the speed with which 
we got over the ground, and the probabiUty that existed of our soon reach- 
ing the point of debarkation. The change of climate, Ukewise, was not 
without its effect in producing pleasurable sensations. The further we got 
fi-om Jamaica, the more cool and agreeable became the atmosphere ; from 

* The Duke of Wellington, as we learn fi-om Mr. Samuel Rogers' Recollec- 
tions, had a high opinion of the writings of the Subaltern. " The Subaltern," 
said the duke, "is excellent, particularly in the American expedition to N.>\r 
Orleans. He describes all he sees." 



42 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

which circnmstance we were led to hope that, in spite of its southern lati- 
tude, New Orleans would not be found so oppressively hot as we had been 
taught to expect." 

" It is not, however, my intention to continue the detail of this voyage 
longer than may be interesting ; I shall therefore merely state that, the 
wind and weather having undergone some variations, it was the 10th of 
December before the shores of America could be discerned. On that day 
we found ourselves opposite to the Chandeleur Islands, and near the en- 
trance of Lake Borgne. There the fleet anchored, that the troops might 
be removed from the heavy ships into Such as drew least water ; and from 
this and other preparations it appeared that to ascend this lake was the 
plan determined upon." 

. . . . " To reduce the forts which command the navigation of the 
river was regarded as a task too difficult to be attempted ; and for any 
ships to pass without their reduction seemed impossible. Trusting, there- 
fore, that the object of the enterprise was unknown to the Americans, 
Sir Alexander Cochrane and General Keane determined -to effect a land- 
ing somewhere on the banks of the lake ; and, pushing directly on, to take 
possession of the town before any effectual preparation could be made for 
its defense. With this view the troops were removed from the larger into 
the hghter vessels, and these, under convoy of such gun-brigs as the shal- 
lowness of the water would float, began on the 13th to enter Lake Borgne. 
But we had not proceeded far when it was apparent that the Americans 
were well acquainted with our intentions and ready to -receive us. Five 
large cutters, armed with six heavy guns each, were seen at anchor in the 
distance; and, as all endeavors to land, till these were captured, would 
have been useless, the transports and largest of the gun-brigs cast anchor, 
whilst the smaller craft gave chase to the enemy. 

" But these cutters were built purposely to act upon the lake. They 
accordingly set sail, as soon as the English cruisers arrived within a certain 
distance, and, running on, were quickly out of sight, leaving the pursuers 
fast aground. To permit them to remain in the hands of the enemy, how- 
ever, would be fatal, because, as long as they commanded the navigation 
of the lake, no boats could venture to cross. It was, therefore, determined 
at all hazards, and at any expense, to take them ; and since our lightest 
craft could not float where they sailed, a flotilla of launches and ships' 
barges was got ready for the purpose. 

" This flotilla consisted of fifty open boats, most of them armed with a 
carronade in the bow, and well manned with volunteers from the different 
ehips-of-war. The command was given to Captain Lockyer, a brave and 
ekifful officer, who immediately pushed off; and about noon came in sight 
of the enemy, moored fore and aft, with broadsides pointing towards him. 
Having pulled a considerable distance he resolved to refresh his men be- 



1814] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 43 

fore he hurried them into action ; and, accordingly, letting fall grapplings 
just beyond the reach of the enemy's guns, the crews of the different boats 
coolly ate their dinner. 

" As soon as that meal was finished, and an hour spent in resting, the 
boats again got ready to advance. But, unfortunately, a light breeze which 
had hitherto favored them now ceased to blow, and they were in conse- 
quence compelled to make way only with the oar. The tide also ran 
strong against them, at once increasing their labor and retarding their 
progress ; but all these difficulties appeared trifling to British sailors ; and, 
giving a hearty cheer, they moved steadily onward in one extended line. 

"It was not long before the enemy's guns opened upon them, and a 
tremendous shower of balls saluted their approach. Some boats were 
sunk, others disabled, and many men were killed and wounded; but the 
rest puHing with all their might, and occasionally returning the discharges 
from their carronades, succeeded, after an hour's labor, in closing with the 
Americans. The marines now began a deadly fire of musketry ; while the 
seamen, sword in hand, sprang up the vessels' sides in spite of all oppo- 
sition ; and sabring every man that stood in their way, hauled down thft 
American ensign, and hoisted the British flag in its place. 

" One cutter alone, which bore the commodore's broad pennant, was not 
so easily subdued. Having noted its preeminence, Captain Lockyer di- 
rected his own boat against it ; and happening to have placed himself in 
one of the hghtest and fastest sailing barges in the flotilla, he found himself 
alongside of his enemy before any of the others were near enough to ren- 
.der him the smallest support. But nothing dismayed by odds so fear- 
ful, the gallant crew of this small bark, following their leader, instantly 
leaped on board the American. A desperate conflict ensued, in which 
Captain Lockyer received several severe wounds ; but, after fighting fi-om 
the bow to the stern, the enemy were at length overpowered ; and other 
barges coming up to the assistance of their commander, the commodore's 
flag shared the same fate with the others. 

" Having destroyed all opposition in this quarter, the fleet again weighed 
anchor and stood up the lake. But we had not been many hours under 
sail when ship after ship ran aground ; such as still floated were, there- 
fore, crowded with the troops from those which could go no further, till 
finally the lightest vessel stuck fast ; and the boats were of necessity 
hoisted out to carry us a distance of upwards of thirty miles. To be con- 
fined for so long a time as the prosecution of this voyage would require in 
one posture was of itself no very agreeeble prospect ; but the confinement 
was but a trifling misery, when compared with that which arose from the 
change in the weather. Instead of a constant bracing frost, heavy rains, 
such as an inhabitant of England cannot dream of, and against which no 
cloak could furnish protection, began. In the midst of these were the troops 



44 LIFE OF ANDREW JAOKSON, [1814. 

embarked in their new and straitened transports, and each division, aflei 
an exposure of ten hours, landed upon a small desert spot of earth, called 
Pine Island, where it was determined to collect the whole army, previous 
to its crossing over to the main. 

" Than this spot it is scarcely possible to imagine any place more com- 
pletely wretched. It was a swamp, containing a spaall space of firm ground 
at one end, and almost wholly unadorned with trees of any sort or descrip- 
tion. There were, indeed, a few stunted firs upon tlie very edge of the water, 
but these were so diminutive in size as hardly to deserve a higher classifica- 
tion than among the meanest of shrubs. The interior was the resort of 
wild ducks and other water fowl ; and the pools and creeks with which it 
was intersected abounded in dormant alligators. 

" Upon this miserable desert the army was assembled, without tents or 
huts, or any covering to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather ; 
and in truth we may fairly affirm that our hardships had here their com- 
mencement. After having been exposed all day to a cold and pelting rain, 
we landed upon a barren island, incapable of furnishing even fuel enough to 
supply our fires. To add to our miseries, as night closed, the rain generally 
ceased, and severe frosts set in, which, congealing our wet clothes upon 
our bodies, left Uttle animal warmth to keep the limbs in a state of activity ; 
and the consequence was that many of the wretched negroes, to whom 
frost and cold were altogether new, fell fast asleep, and perished before 
morning. 

" Por provisions, again, we were entirely dependent upon the fleet. 
There were here no hving creatures which would suffer themselves to be. 
caught ; even the water fowl being so timorous that it was impossible to 
approach them within musket shot. Salt meat and ship biscuit were, there- 
foi«e, our food, moistened by a small allowance of rum ; fare which, though 
no doubt very wholsome, was not such as to reconcile us to the cold and 
wet under which we suffered. 

" On the part of the navy, again, all these hardships were experienced 
in a fom-fold degree. Night and day were boats pulling from the fleet to 
the island, and from the island to the fleet; for it was the 21st before all 
the troops were got on shore ; and as there was httle time to inquire into 
men's turns of labor, many seamen were four or five days continually at 
the oar. Thus, they had not only to bear up against variety of tempera- 
ture, but against hunger, fatigue, and want of sleep, in addition ; three as 
fearful burdens as can be laid upon the human frame. Yet, in spite of all 
this, not a murmur nor a whisper of complaint could be heard throughout 
the whole expedition. No man appeared to regard the present, whilst 
every one looked forward to the future. From the general down to the 
youngest drum-boy, a confident anticipation of success seemed to pervade 
all ranks J and in the hope of an ample reward in store for them, the toils 



1814.] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 45 

and grievances of the moment were forgotten. Nor was this anticipation 
the mere offspring of an overweening confidence in themselves. Several 
Americans had already deserted, who entertained us with accounts of the 
alarm experienced at New Orleans. They assured us that there were not 
at present five thousand soldiers in the State; that the principal inhabit- 
ants had long ago left the place ; that such as remained were ready to 
join us as soon as wo should appear among them ; and that, therefore, we 
might lay our account with a speedy and bloodless conquest. The same 
persons likewise dilated upon the wealth and importance of the town ; 
upon the large quantities of government stores there collected ; and the 
rich booty which would reward its capture ; — subjects well calculated to 
tickle the fancy of invaders, and to make them unmindful of immediate 
aflSictions, in the expectation of so great a recompense to come. 

" It is well known, that at the period to which my narrative refers an 
alliance, oiFensive and defensive, subsisted between the government of 
Great Britain and the heads of as many Indian nations, or tribes, as felt 
the aggressions of the settlers upon their ancient territories, and were dis- 
posed to resent them. On this side of the continent our principal allies 
were the Choctaws and Cherokees, two nations whom war and famine had 
reduced from a state of comparative majesty to the lowest ebb of feeble- 
ness and distress. Driven from hunting-ground to hunting-ground, and 
pursued hke wild beasts wherever seen, they were now confined to a nar- 
row tract of country, lying chiefly along the coast of the G-ulf, and the bor- 
ders of the lakes which adjoin to it. For some time previous to the arrival 
of the expedition, the warriors of these tribes put themselves under the 
command of Colonel Nickolls, of the Royal Marines, and continued to 
harass the Americans by frequent incursions into the cultivated districts. It 
so happened, however, that, being persuaded to attempt the reduction of a 
fort situated upon Mobile Point, and being, as might be expected, repulsed 
with some loss, their confidence in their leader, and their dependence upon 
British aid, had begun of late to suffer a serious diminution. Though not 
very profitable as friends, their local position and desultory mode of war- 
fare would have rendered them at this period exceedingly annoying to us 
as enemies ; it was accordingly determined to dispatch an embassy to their 
settlements, for the purpose of restoring them to good humor, or at least 
discovering their intentions. 

" Whilst the troops were assembling upon Pine Island a cutter, having 
proper officers on board, and carrying presents of clothing, arms, and rum, 
was dispatched upon this business. It reached its place of destination in 
safety, and the ambassadors found very little difficulty in bringing back the 
fickle Indians to their wonted reliance upon British support. Several of 
the chiefs and warriors, indeed, requested and obtained permission to visit 
our admiral and general, and to foUow the fortunes of our troops ; and a 



46 LIFE OF ANDRE"W JACKSON. [1814 

Very grotesque and singular appearance they presented as they stood upon 
the quarter-deck of the Tonnant. But the costume, habits and customs 
of these savages have been too frequently and too accurately described 
elsewhere to render any account of them, on the present occasion, desira- 
ble. It is sufficient to observe, that whilst they gazed upon everything 
around them with a look expressive of no astonishment whatever, they 
were themselves objects of eager curiosity to us; and that they bore our 
close inspection and somewhat uncourteous deportment with the most per- 
fect philosophy. But to my tale. 

" Tlie enemy's cutters having fallen into our hands, at an early hour on 
the morning of the 16th the disembarkation of the troops began. So de- 
ficient, however, was the fleet in boats and other small craft fit to navigate 
the lakes, that it was late on the evening of the 21st before the last divi- 
sion took up its ground upon Pine Island, and even then the inconveni- 
ences of our descent were but beginning. The troops had yet to be ar- 
ranged in corps and brigades ; to each of these its proportion of commis- 
saries, purveyors and medical attendants, etc., etc., required to be allotted ; 
and some attempt at establishing depots of provisions and mihtary stores 
behoved to be made. In adjusting these matters the whole of the 22d 
was occupied, on which day the general likewise reviewed the whole of 
the army. This being ended, the force was next distributed into divisions, 
or corps, and the following is the order it assumed. 

" Instead of a light brigade, the general resolved to set apart three bat- 
talions as an advanced guard. The regiments nominated to that service 
were the 4th, the 8f>th Light Infantry, and the 95th Eifles , and he selected 
Colonel Thornton of the 85th, as an officer of talent and enterprise, to com- 
,mand them. Attached to this corps were a party of rocket-men, with two 
light three-pounders — a species of gun convenient enough where celerity 
of movement is alone regarded, but of very little real utility in the field. 
The rest of the troops were arranged, as before, into two brigades. The 
first, composed of the 21st, 44th, and one black regiment, was intrusted to 
Colonel Brook ; and the second, containing the 93d, and the other black 
corps, to Colonel Hamilton, of the 7th West India regiment. To each of 
these a certain proportion of artillery and rockets was allotted ; whilst the 
dragoons, who had brought their harness and other appointments on shore, 
remained as a sort of body-guard to the general, till they should provide 
themselves with horses. 

" The adjustment of these matters having occupied a considerable part 
of the 22d, it was determined that all things should remain as they were 
till next morning. Boats, in the meantime, began to assemble from all 
ouarters, supplies of ammunition were packed so as to prevent the possi- 
bility of damage by moisture, and stores of various descriptions were got 
ready. But it appeared that, even now, many serious inconveniences must 



1814.] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 47 

be endured, and obstacles surmounted, before the troops could reach the 
fscene of action. In the first place, from Pine Island to that part of the 
main towards which prudence directed us to steer was a distance of no 
less than eighty miles. This of itself was an obstacle, or at least an incon- 
venience of no slight nature ; for, should the weather prove boisterous, 
open boats, heavily laden with soldiers, would stand little chance of escap- 
ing destruction in the course of so long a voyage. In the next place, and 
what was of infinitely greater importance, it was found that there were not, 
throughout the whole fleet, a sutficient number of boats to transport above 
one-third of the army at a time. But to land in divisions would expose our 
forces to be attacked in detail, by which means one party might be cut to 
pieces before the others could arrive to its support The undertaking was, 
therefore, on the whole, extremely dangerous, and such as would have been 
probably abandoned by more timid leaders. Ours, however, were not so 
to be alarmed. They had entered upon a hazardous business, in whatever 
way it should be prosecuted ; and since they could not work miracles, they 
resolved to lose no time in bringing their army into the field, in the best 
manner which circumstances would permit. 

" With this view, the advance, consisting of sixteen hundred men and 
two pieces of cannon, was next morning embarked. I have already stated 
that there is a small creek, called the Bayou de Catiline, which runs up from 
Lake Pontchartrain through the middle of an extensive morass, about ten 
miles below New Orleans. Towards tliis creek were the boats directed, 
and here it was resolved to efiect a landing. When we set sail the sky 
was dark and loAvering, and before long a heavy rain began to fall. Con- 
tinuing without intermission during the whole of the day, towards night 
it as usual ceased, and was succeeded by a sharp frost; which, taking effect 
upon men thoroughly exposed and already cramped by remaining so long 
in one posture, rendered our limbs completely powerless. Nor was there 
any means of dispelling the benumbing sensation, or effectually resisting 
the cold. Fires of charcoal, indeed, being lighted in the sterns of the boats, 
were permitted to burn as long as daylight lasted ; but as soon as it grew 
dark they were of necessity extinguished, lest the flame should be seen by 
row-boats from the shore and an alarm be thus communicated. Our situa- 
tion was, therefore, the reverse of agreeable ; since even sleep was denied 
us, from the apprehension of fatal consequences. 

" Having remained in this uncomfortable state till midnight, the boat3 
cast anchor and hoisted awnings. There was a small piquet of the enerr.y 
stationed at the entrance of the creek by which it was intended to effect 
our landing. This it was absolutely necessary to surprise ; and while the 
rest lay at anchor, two or three fast-sailing barges were pushed on to execute 
the service. Nor did they experience much difficulty in accomphshing 
their object. Nothing, as it appeared, was less dreamt of by the Ameri- 



48 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

cans than an attack from this quarter, consequently, no persons could be less 
on their guard than the party here stationed. The officer who conducted the 
force sent against them, found not so much as a single sentinel posted I but 
haying landed his men at two places, above and below the hut which they 
inhabited, extended his ranks so as to surround it, and closing gradually in, 
took them all fast asleep without noise or resistance. 

" When such time had been allowed as was deemed sufficient for the 
accomplishment of this undertaking, the flotilla again weighed anchor, and 
without waiting for intelligence of success pursued their voyage. Hitherto 
we had been hurried along at a rapid rate by a fair breeze, which enabled 
us to carry canvass ; but this now left us, and we made way only by row- 
ing. Our progress was therefore considerably retarded, and the risk of 
discovery heightened by the noise which that labor necessarily occasions; 
but in spite of these obstacles we reached the entrance of the creek by 
dawn, and about nine o'clock were safely on shore. 

" The place where we landed was as wild as it is possible to imagine. 
Gaze where we might nothing oould be seen except one huge marsh, covered 
with taU reeds; not a house nor a vestige of human industry could be 
discovered ; and even of trees there were but a few growing upon the banks 
of the creek. Yet it was such a spot as, above all others, favored our 
operations. No eye could watch us, or report our arrival to the American 
General. By remaining quietly among the reeds we might efiectually 
conceal ourselves from notice ; because, from the appearance of all around, 
it was easy to perceive that the place which we occupied had been seldom, 
if ever before, marked with a human footstep. Concealment, however, 
was the thing of all others which we required ; for be it remembered that 
there were now only sixteen hundred men on the main land. The rest 
were still at Pine Island, where they must remain till the boats which had 
transported us should return from their conveyance, consequently many 
hours must elapse before this small corps could be either reinforced or sup- 
ported. If, therefore, we had sought for a point where a descent might 
be made in secrecy and safety, we could not have found one better calcu- 
lated for that purpose than the present, because it affijrded every means 
of concealment to one part of our force, until the others should be able to 
come up. 

" For these reasons, it was confidently expected that no movement 
would be made previous to the arrival of the other brigades; but, in our 
expectations of quiet, we were deceived. The deserters who had come in, 
and accompanied us as guides, assured the general that he had only to show 
himself, when the whole district would submit. They repeated that there 
•were not five thousand men in arms throughout the State ; that of these 
not more than twelve hundred were regular soldiers, and that the whole 
force was at present several miles on the opposite side of the town, expect 



1814.J KENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 49 

ing an attack on that quarter, and apprehending no danger on this. These 
arguments, together with the nature of the ground on which we stood, so 
ill calculated for a proper distribution of troops in case of attack, and so 
well calculated to hide the movements of an army acquainted with all the 
passes and tracks which, for aught we knew, intersected the morass, in- 
duced our leader to push forward at once into the open country. As soon, 
therefore, as the advance was formed, and the boats had departed, we be- 
gan our march, following an indistinct path along the edge of the ditch or 
canal. But it was not without many checks that we were able to proceed. 
Other ditches, similar to that whose course we pursued, frequently stopped 
us by running in a cross direction, and falling into it at right angles. These 
were too wide to be leaped, and too deep to be forded ; consequently, on 
all such occasions, the troops were obhged to halt, till bridges were liastily 
constructed of such materials as could be procured and thrown across. 

" Having advanced in this manner for several hours, we at length found 
ourselves approaching a more cultivated region. The marsh became grad- 
ually less and less continued, being intersected by wider spots of firm ground ; 
the reeds gave place by degrees to wood, and the wood to inclosed fields. 
Upon these, however, nothing grew, harvest having long ago ended. They 
accordingly presented but a melancholy appearance, being covered with 
the stubble of sugar cane, which resembled the reeds which we had just 
quitted in every thing except altitude. Nor as yet was any house or cot- 
tage to be seen. Though we knew, therefore, that human habitations 
could not be far off, it was impossible to guess where they lay, or how- 
numerous they might prove ; and as we could not- tell whether our guides 
might not be deceiving us, and whether ambuscades might not be laid for 
our destruction, as soon as we should arrive where troops could conveni- 
ently act, our march was insensibly conducted with increased caution and 
regularity. 

" But in a htcle while some groves of orange-trees presented them- 
selves, on passing which two or three farm-houses appeared. Towards 
these our advanced companies immediately hastened, with the hope of 
surprising the inhabitants, and preventing any alarm from being raised. 
Hurrying on at double-quick time, they surrounded the buildings, suc- 
ceeded in securing the inmates, and capturing several horses ; but, becom- 
ing rather careless in watching their prisoners, one man contrived to effect 
his escape. Now, then, all hope of eluding observation might be laid aside. 
The rumor of our landing would, we knew, spread, faster than we could 
march, and it only remained to make that rumor as terrible as possible. 

" With this view the column was commanded to widen its files, and to 

present as formidable an appearance as could be assumed. Changing our 

order, in obedience to these directions, we marched, not in sections of eight 

or ten abreast, but in pairs, and thus contrived to cover with our small 

VOL. II. — 4 



50 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

division as large a tract of ground as if we had mustered thrice our pres- 
ent numbers. Our steps were likewise quickened, that we might gain, if 
possible, some advantageous position, where we might be able to cope with 
any Ibrce that might attack us ; and, thus hastening on, wc soon arrived at 
the main road, which leads directly to New Orleans. Turning to the right, 
we then advanced in the direction of that town for about a mile, when, 
having reached a spot where it was considered that we might encamp in 
comparative safety, our little column halted, the men piled their arms, and 
a regular bivouac was formed. 

" The country where we had now established ourselves answered, iu 
every respect, the description which I have already given of the neck of 
land on which New Orleans is built. It was a narrow plain of about a 
mile in width, bounded on one side by the Mississippi, and on the other by 
the marsh from which we had just emerged. Towards the open ground, 
this marsh was covered with dwarf- wood, having the semblance of a for- 
est, rather than of a swamp ; but on trying the bottom it was found that 
both characters were united, and that it was impossible for a man to make 
his way among the trees, so boggy was the soil upon which they grew. 
In no other quarter, however, was there a single hedge-row, or plantation 
of any kind, excepting a few apple and other fruit-trees in the gardens of 
such houses as were scattered over the plain, the whole being laid out in 
large fields for the growth of sugar-cane, a plant which seems as abundant 
in this part of the world as in Jamaica. 

" Looking up towards the town, which we at this time faced, the marsh 
is upon your right, and the river upon your left. Close to the latter runs 
the main road, following the course of the stream all the way to New Or- 
leans. Between the road and the water is tnrowu up a lofty and strong 
embankment, resembhng the dykes in Holland, and meant to serve a simi- 
lar purpose ; by means of which the Mississippi is prevented from over- 
flowing its banks, and the entire flat is preserved from inundation. But 
the attention of a stranger is irresistibly drawn away from every other ob- 
ject to contemplate the magnificence of this noble river. Pouring along 
at the prodigious rate of four miles an hour, an immense body of water is 
spread out before you, measuring a full mile across, and nearly a hundred 
fathoms in depth. What this mighty stream must be near its mouth I can 
hardly imagine, for we were here upwards of a hundred miles from the 
ocean. 

" Such was the general aspect of the country which we had entered ; — 
our own position, again, was this. The three regiments, turning ofl" frorp 
the road into one extensive green field, formed three close columns within 
pistol-shot of the river. Upon our right, but so much in advance as to bo 
of no service to us, was a large house, surrounded by about twenty wooden 
huta, probably intended for the accommodation of slaves. Towards this 



1814.] RENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 51 

house there was a slight rise in the ground, and between it and the camp 
was a small pond of no great depth. As far to the rear again as the first 
was to the front^ stood another house, inferior in point of appearance, and 
skirted by no out-buildings: this was also upon the right; and here Gen- 
eral Keaue, who accompanied us, fixed his head-quarters; but neither the 
one nor the other could be emplo3'ed as a covering redoubt, the flank of 
the division extending, as it were, between them. A little way in advance, 
again, where the ou I posts were stationed, ran a dry ditch and a row of 
lofly palings, affording some cover to the front of our line, should it be 
formed diagonally with the main road. The left likewise was well secured 
by the river ; but the right and the rear were wholly unprotected. Though 
in occupying this field, therefore, we might have looked very well had the 
country around us been friendly, it must be confessed that our situation 
hardly deserved the title of a military position." 

Two questions occur to the reader during the perusal of 
this narrative : First, why did Lieutenant Jones, instead of 
returning to the pass leading into Lake Pontchartrain, give 
battle elsewhere, and so lose his gun-boats ? Secondly, how- 
was it that an army could land twelve miles below New Or- 
leans, at the mouth of such an important stream as the 
Bayou Bienvenue, without opposition from a general so vigi- 
*lant as General Jackson ? 

With regard to the battle of the gun-boats, the official 
dispatch of Lieutenant Jones, which does justice to every cir- 
cumstance except his own gallantry, supplies the requisite 
explanation. "About 1, a.m., on the 14th," says Lieutenant 
Jones, in his sailor-like and straight-forward dispatch, dic- 
tated as soon as he was sufficiently recovered from his wound, 
"^/ie wind liaving entirely died away, and our vessels become 
unmanageable, came to anchor in the west end of Malheureux 
island's passage. At daylight next morning, still a perfect 
calm, the enemy's flotilla was about nine miles from us, at 
anchor, but soon got in motion and rapidly advanced on us. 
The want of wind, and the strong ebb-tide which was setting 
through the pass, left me but one alternative, which was, to 
put myself in the most advantageous position to give the 
enemy as warm a reception as possible. The commanders 
were all called on board and made acquainted with my inten- 



52- LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814, 

tions, and the position which each vessel was to take, the 
whole to form a close line abreast across the channel, an- 
chored by the stern, with springs on the cable, etc., etc. Thus 
we remained anxiously awaiting an attack from the advancing 
foe, whose forces I now clearly distinguished to be composed 
of forty-two heavy launches and gun-barges, with three light 
gigs, manned with upward of one thousand men and officers. 
About 9 30, the Alligator (tender) which was to the south- 
ward and eastward, and endeavoring to join the division, was 
captured by several of the enemy's barges, when the whole flo- 
tilla came to, with their grapnels, a little out of reach of our 
shot, apparently making arrangements for the attack. At 
10 30, the enemy weighed, forming a line abreast in open or- 
der, and steering direct for our line, which was unfortunately 
in some degree broken by the force of the current, driving 
Nos. 156 and 163 about one hundred yards in advance. As 
soon as the enemy came within reach of our shot, a deliberate 
fire from our long guns was opened upon him, but without 
much effect, the objects being of so small a size. At ten 
minutes before eleven, the enemy opened a fire from the 
whole of his line, when the action became general and de- 
structive on both sides. '•'•■ * "'■'■■ * The action con- 
tinued with unabating severity until forty minutes past twelve 
o'clock, when it terminated with the surrender of No. 23, all 
the other vessels having previously fallen into the hands of 
the enemy." 

Captain Lockyer's dispatch coincides with that of Lieu- 
tenant Jones in all essential particulars. He reports his loss 
at seventeen killed and seventy-seven wounded. The Ameri- 
can loss, in killed and wounded, was about sixty ; all the 
commanders of gun-boats being wounded except one. The 
combat over, the Americans were taken on board of one of 
the enemy's ships, where the wounded were cared for with the 
assiduity and tenderness which their situation required. For 
many a day of agonizing suspense they lay in their hammocks, 
listening to every sound, and scanning the faces of their at- 



i8141 EENDEZVOUS OF THE BRITISH FLEET. 53 

tendants to read in their ever deepening seriousness the his- 
tory of what was passing on shore. 

The mouth of the Bayou Bienvenue, where the British so 
easily and secretly landed, had early attracted the attention 
of General Jackson. It was, and is, a lonely, desolate place, 
resorted to only by fishermen and tourists. A little colony 
of Spanish fishermen had built a few rude huts there for their 
accommodation during the fishing season. A picket, consist- 
ing: of a sercreant, eight white men and three mulattoes, had 
been stationed in the village by General Villere, a planter of 
the neighborhood, to whom Jackson had assigned the duty 
of guarding the spot. No one anticipating danger in that 
quarter, the picket gradually relaxed their vigilance. Two 
British officers. Captain Spencer of the Carron and Lieuten- 
ant Peddie of the army, disguised in blue shirts and old tar- 
paulins, landed without exciting suspicion, bought over the 
Spanish fishermen and their boats, rowed up the bayou, 
reached the firm land along the banks of the gi'eat river, and 
drank of its waters. Having carefully noted all the features 
of the scene, questioning the negroes and others whom they 
met, they returned to Pine Island, whence they guided the 
advance of the British army to the fatal plain. 

It is denied by all American writers that the picket at the 
fisherman's village was surprised in the manner stated by the 
'' Subaltern." Mr. Alexander Walker, who collected his in- 
formation from the men themselves, gives this account of what 
transpired on the night of the landing : 

"Nothing occurred to attract the notice of this picket until about mid- 
night on the 22d, when the sentinel on duty in the village called his com- 
rade, and informed him that some boats were coming up the bayou. It 
was no false alarm. These boats composed the advanced party of the Brit- 
ish, which had been sent forward from the main body of the flotilla, under 
Captain Spencer, to reconnoitre and secure the village. 

" The Americans, perceiving the hopelessness of defending themselves 
against so superior a force, retired for concealment behind the ca.bia, where 
they remained until the barges had passed them. They then ran out and 
endeavored to reach a boat by which they might escape. But they were 
observed by the British, who advanced towards them, seized the boat be- 



54 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1814. 

fore it could be dragged into the water, and captured four of the picket 
Four others were afterwards taken on land. Of the four remaining, three 
ran into the cane-brake, thence into the prairie, where they wandered 
about all day, untQ, worn down with fatigue and suflFering, they returned to 
the village, happy to surrender themselves prisoners. One only escaped, 
and after three days of terrible hardships and constant perils, wandering 
over trembling prairies, through almost impervious cane-brakes, swimming 
bayous and lagoons, and hving on reptiles and roots, got safely into the 
American camp. 

" The prisoners were shut up in one of the huts and closely guarded. 
One of them, a native Louisianian (Mr. Ducros), was separated from his 
companions and placed in a boat, in which were Captain Spencer and other 
British officers. The boat returned to the lake, and near the mouth of the 
bayou was met by the main body of the British flotilla, when Captain 
Spencer introduced his prisoner to a tall, black- whiskered, youthful man, in 
military undress, as General Keane, and to another rough and stern-look- 
ing, white-haired old gentleman, in plain and much worn clothes, as Sir 
Alexander Cochrane. These two distinguished officers then proceeded to 
interrogate Mr. Ducros very closely. But with the prompt Irish wit of 
the one, and the deep Scotch calculation of the other, they did not succeed 
in extracting any very valuable or pleasing intelligence from the shrewd 
Creole. 

" Valuable the information was not to the British, but as the sequel will 
show, invaluable to the Americans was one item of news which Mr. Ducros 
succeeded in passing off upon the inquisitive British. It was the state- 
ment that Jackson had from twelve to fifteen thousand armed men to de- 
fedd the city, and four thousand at the English Turn. By a preconcert 
the other prisoners confirmed this estimate. It greatly surprised the gen- 
eral and admiral, and led them to doubt the character and veracity of the 
fishermen, who had made so light of the defenses of the city, and rendered 
it necessary that the greatest caution and prudence should be observed in 
their movements. Thus it is that traitors and renegades are distrusted, 
even when they have truth on their side. The timely fiction of the pris- 
oners proved a shield for the city." 

Major Latour, however, gives a different account of the 
origin of the timely fiction. He intimates that, during the 
evening of the twenty-second, the pickets, when assembled in 
one of the huts, fell into conversation respecting the number 
of men under Jackson's command. As General Jackson 
was not the man, in such circumstances, to understate his 
resources, the number of his troops, arrived and coming, was 



1814.] THE AMERICAN TROOPS. 55 

really supposed by the people to be three times as great as it 
was. The picket, adopting the rumored numbers of the vari- 
ous corps, honestly computed the army at fifteen or twenty 
thousand men, and so stated it to the British officers. This 
version is less romantic, but more probable, than tliat of Mr. 
Walker, and has the additional merit of being thirty years 
older ; Major Latour having published in 1816, Mr. Walker 
in 1856. 

Be that as it may — there the British were, sixteen hun- 
dred of them, within eight miles of New Orleans, and not a 
man in the city suspecting their arrival. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE AMERICAN TROOPS. 

While Lieutenant Jones and Captain Lockyer were bat- 
tling so fiercely for the mastery of Lake Borgne at midday, 
on the fourteenth of December, General Jackson was return- 
ing to New Orleans from his tour of inspection, not ill-con- 
tent with what he had seen. Bad news traveled fast that 
day. Before he reached the city he had heard that the gun- 
boats were lost ; that the enemy were masters of the lake ; 
that a fleet such as the Gulf of Mexico had never borne before 
covered the deep waters nearest New Orleans ; and that the 
city was panic-stricken at the intelligence. 

It was at such moments that General Jackson appeared 
to most striking advantage. Comprehending the full extent 
of the disaster, he was neither dismayed nor discouraged. 
All the warrior was aroused, and the " light of battle" shone 
in his worn and meager countenance. With that calm im- 
petuosity, that composed intensity, which belonged to him at 
such times, he began at once, and there, on the spot where 
the iU news met him, to adjust his plans to the altered cir- 



56 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1814 

ciimstances. Orders were issued on the instant, and conveyed 
awa,y as soon as issued, to strengthen with men and cannon 
the fort which guarded the access to Lake Pontchartrain, and 
that which defended the Chef-Menteur, a bayou emptying 
into Lake Borgne. The substance of his swift orders to Cap- 
tain Newman, who commanded in the pass between the lakes, 
was, " Defend the post to the last extremity. At the last 
extremity, spike guns, blow up fort, retire to the Chef-Men- 
teur, and fight again '/' 

Now, Forward, gentlemen ! Before night-fall the Gren- 
eral reached the frightened city, reassuring it in some degree 
by his presence. The pen first, the sword afterwards, was 
invariably the way with this indomitable son of Mars. There 
was rapid writing that night at head-quarters, and eloquent 
writing, too, that can not now be read without a stirring of 
the blood. The next day, more writing, and a hurried dis- 
patching of expresses to all the points of the compass. The 
letters written and dictated by the General on this occasion 
are alive in every line with the high- wrought feeling of the 
hour. 

To the ofiicer in command of Fort Philip he wrote, ac- 
quainting him with the arrival of the enemy, and ordering him 
to hold the fort while a man remained alive to point a gun. 
To General Coffee : " You must not sleep until you reach me, 
or arrive within striking distance. Your accustomed activity 
is looked for. Innumerable defiles present themselves where 
your services and riflemen will be all important. An oppor- 
tunity is at hand to reap for yourself and brigade the appro- 
bation of your country." To General Winchester, who com- 
manded at Mobile : "The enemy will attempt, through Pass 
Huron, to reach you ; watch, nor suffer yourself to be sur- 
prised ; haste, and throw sufiicient supplies into Fort Bow- 
yer, and guard vigilantly the communication from Fort 
Jackson, lest it be destroyed. Mobile Point must be sup- 
ported and defended at every hazard. The enemy has given 
us a large coast to guard ; but I trust, with the smiles of 
heaven, to be able to meet and defeat him at every point ho 



1814.] THE AMERICAN TROOPS. 67 

may venture his foot upon the land." To General Carroll 
he sent a steamboat, to hasten his descent of the river, and a 
dispatch, concluding, " I am resolved, feeble as my force is, 
to assail the enemy on his first landing, and perish sooner 
than he shall reach the city." General Thomas, who com- 
manded the expected Kentuckians, and 'Colonel Hinds, of the 
coming Mississippi dragoons, were addressed in a similar 
strain. The Secretary of War was promptly advised of the 
new posture of affairs. " But," said the General to him, 
" the country shall be defended, if in the power of the physi- 
cal force it contains, with the auxiliary force ordered. There 
are no arms here. Will the government order a supply ? If 
it will, let it be speedily." From these last words, it is evi- 
dent the General anticipated a long campaign — certainly did 
not anticipate a single event of the next twenty-four days. 

The consternation that prevailed in the city, and that was 
fast spreading into the country, was not forgotten amid the 
labors of the busy and exciting night that followed the Gen- 
eral's return. The wildest rumors were abroad. The enemy's 
fleet was generally believed to consist of three hundred ves- 
sels. Treason was said to be working in the city. The old 
fear of an insurrection of the slaves was revived. To allay 
apprehensions and to strike terror to traitors, if traitors there 
were in the town, a proclamation was published on the morn- 
ing of the 15th, which was eminently Jacksonian in spirit, 
though probably penned by Edward Livingston : — 

" To THE Citizens of New Orleans : 

The Major General commanding has, with astonishment and regret, 
learned that great consternation and alarm pervade your city. It is true the 
enemy is on our coast, and threatens an invasion of our territory ; but it is 
equally true, with union, energy, and the approbation of heaven, we will 
beat him at every point his temerity may induce him to set foot upon our 
soil. The Greneral, with still greater astonishment, has heard that British 
emissaries have been permitted to propagate seditious reports among you, 
that the threatened invasion is with a view of restoring the country to Spain, 
from a supposition that some of you would be willing to return to your an- 
cient government. BeUeve not such incredible tales — ^your government ia 
at peace with Spain — it is the vital enemy of your country, the common 



// 



58 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1811 

enemy of mankind, the highway robber of the world that threatens you, 
and has sent his hirelings among you with this false report to put you ofif 
your guard, that you may fall an easy prey to him ; — then look to your 
Hberties, your property, the chastity of your wives and daughters — take a 
retrospect of the conduct of the British army at Hampton and other places, 
where it has entered our country, and every bosom which glows with pat- 
riotism and vu-tue will be^ inspired with indignation, and pant for the arri- 
val of the hour when we shall meet and revenge those outrages against the 
laws of civilization and humanity. 

The General calls upon the inhabitants of the city to trace this un- 
founded report to its source, and bring the propagator to condign punish- 
ment. The rules and articles of war annex the punishment of death to any 
person holding secret correspondence with the enemy, creating false alarms, 
or supplying liim Avith provisions ; and the General announces his unalter- 
able determination rigidly to execute the martial law in all cases which may 
come within his province. 

The safety of the district intrusted to the protection of the General, 
must and will be maintained with the best blood of the country ; and he 
is confident that all good citizens will be found at their posts, with their 
arms in their hands, determined to dispute every inch of ground with the 
enemy ; that unanimity will pervade the country generally ; but should 
the General be disappointed in this expectation, he will separate our 
enemies from our friends — those who are not for us are against us, and 
will be dealt with accordingly. ' 

Events now follow one another with a rapidity that puz- 
zles and distracts the narrator. Later in the day on which 
this ominous proclamation ajjpeared, the measure was con- 
cluded upon which was hinted at in its closing sentences. 
The General determined to place the city under martial law. 

This important stej) was not the act of a moment, though 
the final decision to venture it was sudden. Nor does it ap- 
pear to have been suggested by General Jackson. Before 
Jackson arrived, it was the general expectation among the 
leading men, that the coming of General Jackson and the 
proclamation of martial law would be events nearly simulta- 
neous. The subject was daily talked of at head-quarters. 
The measure was recommended at a meeting of judges and 
members of the bar. The opinion was general among the 
American residents, that nothing short of the' possession of 



1814] THEAMERICAN TROOPS. 59 

absolute power would enable tlie General to wield the entire 
resources of the town, and direct them undiminished against 
the foe. The written opinion given by Edward Livingston 
pi'obably expressed the feeling of the bar upon the subject : 
" Martial law can only be justified by the necessity of the 
case. The General proclaims it at his risk, and under his 
responsibility, not only to the government, but to individuals ; 
because it is a measure unknown to the Constitution and laws 
of the United States. The effect of its proclamation is to 
bring all persons in the district comprised by it within the 
purview of such law, so that all those in that district capable 
of defending the country are subject to such law by virtue of 
the proclamation, and may be tried by it during its contin- 
uance." That is to say, the measure is utterly unlawful ; 
but if the General adopts it, the people must be made to sub- 
mit. The opinion was not calculated to hasten the measure, 
and the General hesitated. 

Meanwhile, the British fleet an-ived, the gun-boats were 
captured, the people were in alarm, rumors of disaffection and 
treason pervaded the city. Sailors abounded in the streets, 
but Commodore Patterson could procure no sufficient force 
to man his two armed vessels, the Carolina and Louisiana, 
the possible importance of which to the defense of the city 
was beginning to be conjectured. The Commodore, at length, 
despairing of milder measures, proposed to Governor Clai- 
borne, and Governor Claiborne to the Legislature, that the 
habeas corpus act be suspended, in order that sailors might 
be impressed. The Legislature refused to comply with the 
Governor's recommendation, but proceeded, instead, to pass 
an act offering twenty-four dollars a month to any sailors 
that might engage in the public service. This act appeared 
to the General totally inadequate to a crisis in which the 
delay of an hour might prove fatal. In a moment of disgust 
at the apparent lukewarmness and inefficiency of the Legis- 
lature, General Jackson determined to take all power into his 
own hands. 

In conversing with Major Eaton upon this desperate 



60 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1814. 

measure, General Jackson once expressed himself in terms 
like these : " I very well knew the extent of my powers, and 
that it was far short of that which necessity and my situation 
required. I determined, therefore, to venture boldly forth, 
and pursue a course correspondent to the difficulties that 
pressed upon me. I had an anxious solicitude to wipe off 
the stigma cast upon my country by the destruction of the 
Capitol. If New Orleans were taken, I well knew that new 
difficulties would arise, and every effort be made to retain it ; 
and that, if regained, blood and treasure would be the sacri- 
fice. My determination, therefore, was formed not to halt at 
trifles, but to lose the city only at the boldest sacrifice ; and 
to omit nothing that could assure success. I was well aware 
that calculating politicians, ignorant of the difficulties that 
surrounded me, would condemn my course ; but this was not 
material. What became of me was of no consequence. If 
disaster did come, I expected not to survive it ; but if a suc- 
cessful defense could be made, I felt assured that my coun- 
try, in the objects attained, would lose sight of and forget 
the means that had been employed." 

Martial law was proclaimed on the sixteenth of Decem- 
ber, converting the city of New Orleans into a camp, and all 
its citizens into soldiers. 

The proclamation was in the words following : 

" Major-G-eneral Andrew Jackson, commanding the seventh United 
States mihtary district, declares the city and environs of New Orleans 
under strict martial law, and orders that in future the following rules be 
rigidly enforced, viz. : 

" Every individual entering the city will report to the adjutant-gene- 
ral's ofl&ce, and, on failure, to be arrested and held for examination. 

" No persons shall be permitted to leave the city without a permission 
in writing, signed by the General or one of his staff. 

" No vessels, boats, or other craft will be permitted to leave New Or- 
leans or Bayou St. John without a passport in writing from the General 
or one of his staff, or the commander of the naval forces of the United 
States on this station. 

" The street lamps shall be extinguished at the hour of nine at night, 
after which time persons of every description found in the streets, or not 



1814.] THE AMERICAN TROOPS. 61 

at their respective homes, without permission in writing, as aforesaid, and 
not having the countersign, shall be apprehended as spies and held for ex- 
amination." 

In a word, all the inhabitants of New Orleans were sub- 
jected to the rules and restrictions which govern soldiers in 
presence of the enemy. All able-bodied men, of whatever 
race, color, rank or condition, were also compelled to serve 
either as soldiers or sailors. The old men and the infirm were 
formed into a veteran guard for the police of the town and 
the occupation of its forts, a venerable body, including in its 
rolls many men of the highest social and political distinction. 
Men of English birth were alone exempt from service. 

The proclamation of martial law was wholly, greatly, and 
immediately beneficial. The panic subsided. Confidence re- 
turned. Cheerfulness was restored. Faction was rendered 
powerless ; treason, on any considerable scale, impossible. 
While the danger lasted, not a voice was raised against a 
measure which united the people as one man against the in- 
vaders of their soil. It was felt to be a measure that grew 
inevitably out of the necessities of the crisis, and one which 
alone was adequate to it. 

It seemed to have a good effect even upon the Legislature, 
for, soon after, they passed an act suspending the legal en- 
forcement of debts for four months. The judges closed their 
courts, and discharged without bail some of the prisoners 
awaiting trial. Criminals, even, whose term of imprisonment 
was within two months of expiring, were set at liberty and 
enrolled among the volunteers. The governor recommended 
the Legislature to adjourn for fifteen or twenty days, as the 
times were unpropitious for deliberation. That sapient body 
replied that it would cost them more to go home and return 
than it would to remain, and therefore they remained, passing 
their time in the most ordinary and frivolous legislation. 
Their doorkeeper expressed his sense of their conduct by re- 
questing leave of absence that he might shoulder a musket 
and go against the enemy, and the Legislature, without taking 
the hint or suspecting the satire, granted leave. 



62 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814 

Oa one of these stirring and eventful days it was that 
Jean Lafitte reappeared upon the scene. A large number of 
his band were in prison ; others were concealed in the city 
and its vicinity to avoid arrest. Forgetting in the excitement 
of those hours that Jackson had stigmatized the Barratarians 
as a " hellish banditti," and was thus publicly committed to 
their exclusion from the ranks of honor, Lafitte sought an 
interview with the General, and offered him his services and 
those of his companions. The General was, at first, disin- 
clined to receive them. But the judge before whom they had 
been arraigned, a committee of the Legislature,- the district 
attorney who was to try them, Edward Livingston, and a 
large number of the American residents, all uniting in re- 
commending the acceptance of Lafitte's offer, the General 
consented, and the whole band was formed into two most 
efficient companies of artillery-men, who rendered more es- 
sential service in the defense than any other companies of 
equal number. So destitute at this time was the city of the 
munitions of war, that the very flints of these privateers' 
pistols were received as a precious prize, and transferred to 
muskets. 

On Sunday, the 18th of December, one of those balmy, 
brilliant days that are the glory of a southern winter, General 
Jackson reviewed the troops then assembled in the city. 
Though the presence of the General had pervaded New Or- 
leans, and his name had been the theme of every tongue, he 
had shown himself but seldom to the people. Partly from 
curiosity to see a chief so renowned, and partly to behold the 
military spectacle, the entire population thronged the public 
square where the review was to take place. The uniformed 
companies, the State militia, the veteran guard, the new vol- 
unteers, a company of marines, the bronzed and stalwart Bar- 
ratarians, were drawn up under the walls of the ancient 
Spanish cathedral, clad in their best attire, and decorated 
with bouquets ; while from the windows, piazzas, and roofa 
around, bright eyes and gay costumes gave memorable bril- 
liancy to the scene. The evolutions and exercises were per- 



1814,] THE AMEKIOAN TROOPS. 63 

tormed with an accuracy and promptness wliicli surpris<;d and 
delighted the vast concourse, and elicited from the General 
the warmest commendations. At the close of the review, Ed- 
ward Livingston advanced from the group that surrounded 
the General, and read in fine, sonorous tones, and with an en- 
ergy and emphasis worthy of the impassioned words he spoke, 
that famous address to the troops which contributed so power- 
fully to enhance their enthusiasm, and of which the survivors, 
to this hour, have the most vivid recollection. This address, 
like that previously quoted, was Jackson's spirit in Living- 
ston's language ; * 

To THE Embodied Militia. — "Fellow Citizens and Soldiers : The General 
commanding in chief would not do justice to the noble ardor that has ani- 
mated you in the hour of danger, he would not do justice to his own feeling, 
if he suffered the example you have shown to pass without public notice. 
Inhabitants of an opulent and commercial town, you have, by a spontaneous 
effort, shaken off the habits which are created by wealth, and shown that you 
are resolved to deserve the blessings of fortune by bravely defending them. 
Long strangers to the perils of war, you have embodied yourselves to face 
them with the cool countenance of veterans; and with motives of disunion 
that might operate on weak minds, you have forgotten the difference of lan- 
guage and the prejudices of national pride, and united with a cordiahty that 
does honor to your understandings as well as to your patriotism. Natives of 
the United States ! They are the op^jressors of your infant political existence 
with whom you are to contend ; they are the men your fathers conquered 
whom you are to oppose. Descendants of Frenchmen ! natives of France I 
*,hey are English, the hereditary, the eternal enemies of your ancient 
country, the invaders of that you have adopted, who are your foes. Span- 
iards ! remember the conduct of your aUies at St. Sebastians, and recently 
at Pensacola, and rejoice that you have an opportunity of avenging the 
brutal injuries inflicted by men wh(? dishonor the human race. 

" Fellow-citizens, of every description, remember for what and against 
whom you contend. For all that can render life desirable — for a country 
blessed with every gifl of nature — ^for property, for life — for those dearer 
than either, your wives and children — and for liberty, without which, coun- 
try, life, property, are no longer worth possessing ; as even the embraces 
of wives and children become a reproach to the wretch who would 
deprive them by his cowardice of those invaluable blessings. You are to 

* The manuscript, in the handwriting of Edward Livingston, still exists. 



64 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

contend for all tliis against an enemy whose continued eflforc is to deprive 
you of the least of these blessings ; who avows a war of vengeance and 
desolation, carried on and marked by cruelty, lust, and horrors unknown to 
civilized nations. 

"Citizens of Louisiana! the General commanding in cliief rejoices to 
see the spirit that animates you, not only for your honor but for your safety ; 
for whatever had been your conduct or wishes, his duty would have led, 
and will now lead him to confound the citizen unmindful of his rights with 
the enemy he ceases to oppose. Now, leading men who know their rights, 
who are determined to defend them, he salutes you, brave Louisianians, as 
brethren in arms, and has now a new motive to exert all his faculties, which 
shall be strained to the utmost in your defense. Continue with the energy 
you have begun, and he promises you not only safety, but victory over the 
insolent enemy who insulted you by an affected doubt of your attachment 
to the Constitution of your country. 

To THE Battalion of Uniform Companies. — " When I first looked at 
you on the day of my arrival I was satisfied with your appearance, and 
every day's inspection since has confirmed the opinion I then formed. Your 
numbers have increased with the increase of danger, and your ardor has 
augmented since it was known that your post would be one of peril and 
honor. This is the true love of country I You have added to it an exact 
discipline, and a skill in evolutions rarely attained by veterans ; the state of 
your corps does equal honor to the skill of the ofiScers and the attention of the 
men. With such defenders our country has nothing to fear. Every thing 
I have said to the body of militia applies equally to you — you have made 
the same sacrifices — you have the same country to defend, the same 
motive for exertion — but I should have been unjust had I not noticed, as 
it deserved, the excellence of your discipline and the martial appearance of 
your corps. 

To THE Men of Color. — "Soldiers! .From the shores of Mobile I col- 
lected you to arms — I invited you to share in the perils and to divide the 
glory of your white countrymen. I expected much from you, for I was 
not uninformed of those qualities. which must render you so formidable to 
an invading foe. I knew that you could endure hunger and thirst and all 
the hardships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, 
and that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man. 
But you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these quahties, 
that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds. 

" Soldiers I The President of the United States shall be informed of 
your conduct on the present occasion, and the voice of the Kepresentatives 
of the American nation shall applaud your valor, as your General now 



1814.] THE AMERICAN TROOPS. 65 

praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover the lakes. But 
the brave are united; and if he finds us contending among ourselves, it 
will be for tlie prize of valor, and fame its noblest reward." 

The troops, all glowing with the fervor of this address, 
were dismissed to their several quarters and homes, to resume 
in the evening or on the morrow their military duties. The 
people slowly dispersed, cheerful and confident, as though the 
spectacle they had seen and the words they had heard had 
given them assurance of safety and triumph. 

The next day came the joyful tidings of General Coffee's 
approach, with his mounted sharpshooters. Jackson's dis- 
patch found him near Baton Rouge, one hundred and twenty- 
nine miles above the city, whither he had wandered in search 
of forage and subsistence. Late on the evening of the seven- 
teenth he received the General's urgent commands. The 
greater part of his horses were worn down with fatigue and 
scarcity ; three hundred of his men were sick ; all were weak- 
ened by long exposure and incessant marching ; his force was 
scattered over a compass of several miles. He spent the night 
in preparation. Early on the morning of the eighteenth, 
leaving his sick and his worst-mounted troops at Baton 
Rouge, he started on his march to the city, with a body of 
twelve hundred and fifty men. Before the close of the day 
lie found it necessary again to divide his little army. Leav- 
ing behind four or five hundred, who could not keep uj) the 
])rodigious pace at which he marched, he pushed on with 
eight hundred, whose horses were in better condition. The 
th'st day he marched fifty miles ; the second day seventy, ar- 
riving within a few miles of New Orleans ; on the morning 
of the third day he encamped within four miles of the city, 
and rode forward to grasp his general by the hand, and re- 
ceive his orders. 

The arrival of General Coffee and his huntsmen raised 
still further the spirits of the people. " Coffee," says the 
author of "Jackson and New Orleans," " was a man of noble 
aspect, tall and herculean in frame, yet not destitute of a cer- 
tain natural dignity and ease of manner. Though of great 

VOL. II.— c 



66 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

height and weight, his appearance on horsehack, mounted on 
a fine Tennessee thorough-bred, was striking and impressive. 
Coffee brought with him less than eight hundred men. They 
were, however, admirable soldiers, who had been hardened by 
long service, possessed remarkable endurance, and that useful 
quality of soldiers of taking care of themselves in any emer- 
gency. They were all practiced marksmen, who thought 
nothing of bringing down a squirrel from the top of the loftiest 
tree with their rifles. Their appearance, however, was not very 
military. In their woolen hunting-shirts, of dark or dingy 
color, and copperas-dyed pantaloons, made, both cloth and 
garments, at home, by their wives, mothers and sisters, with 
slouching wool hats, some composed of the skins of raccoons 
and foxes, the spoils of the chase, to which they were addicted 
almost from infancy — with belts of untanned deer-skin, in 
which were stuck hunting-knives and tomahawks — with their 
long unkempt hair and unshorn faces. Coffee's men were not 
calculated to please the eyes of the martinet, of one accus- 
tomed to regard neatness and primness as essential virtues of 
the good soldier. The British were not far wrong when they 
spoke of them as ' a posse comitatus, wearing broad beavers, 
armed with long duck guns.' But the sagacious judge of 
human nature could not fail to perceive beneath their rude 
exterior those qualities which, in defensive warfare at least, 
are far more formidable than the practiced skill and discipline 
of regulars." 

About the same time came in Colonel Hinds, with his 
regiment of Mississippi dragoons, who had marched two hun- 
dred and thirty miles in four days ! On the twenty-second, 
the flotilla of General Carroll arrived, with another regiment 
of Tennesseeans, and what was even more important, a sup- 
j)ly of muskets, .the want of which was secretly racking the 
General with anxiety. The streets were thronged with armed 
men, conveying to the inexperienced mind the impression that 
a great army was present. 

Major Latour gives us a lively French picture of New 
Orleans, as it appeared during the few last days of waiting 



1814.] THE AMERICAN Tit OOPS, 07 

for the landing of the enemy : " Such was the universal 
confidence inspired by the activity and decision of the Com- 
mander-in-chief, added to the detestation in which the enemy 
was held, and the desire to punish his audacity, should he 
presume to land, that not a single warehouse or shop was 
shut, nor were any goods or valuable effects removed from the 
city. At that period, New Orleans presented a very affect- 
ing picture to the eyes of the patriot, and of all those whose 
bosoms glow with the feelings of national honor, which raise 
the mind far above the vulgar apprehension of personal dan- 
ger. The citizens were preparing for battle as cheerfully as if 
it had been a party of pleasure, each in his vernacular tongue 
singing songs of victory. The streets resounded with Yankee 
Doodle, the Marseilles Hymn, the Chant du Depart, and other 
martial airs, while those who had been long unaccustomed to 
military duty were furbishing their arms and accouterments. 
Beauty applauded valor, and promised with her smiles to re- 
ward the toils of the brave. Though inhabiting an open town, 
not above ten leagues from the enemy, and never till now ex- 
posed to war's alarms, the fair sex of New Orleans Avere ani- 
mated with the ardor of their defenders, and with cheerful 
serenity at the sound of the drum presented themselves at the 
windows and balconies to applaud the troops going through 
their evolutions, and to encourage their husbands, sons, 
fathers, and brothers, to protect them from the insults of our 
ferocious enemies, and prevent a repetition of the horrors of 
Hampton." 

To this Major Latour adds an incident, which, though it 
escaped official notice at the time, he regarded as "worthy to 
be compared, as an example of patriotism, with the most bril- 
liant instance of the same kind recorded in ancient histories." 
"Madame Devance Bienvenu," he says, "a respectable 
wido\<', and rich inhabitant of Atakapas, after sending her 
four sons to the defense of their country, in Captain Dubu- 
clay's company of dragoons, wrote to Governor Claiborne that 
she sincerely regretted having no other sons to offer to her 
country, but that if her own services, in the duty of taking 



68 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814, 

care of the wounded, should be thought useful, notwithstand- 
ing her advanced age, and the great distance of her residence, 
she would hasten to New Orleans for that purpose." 

The letters written by Americans at New Orleans, during 
this week of excitement and suspense, and published in the 
northern newspapers, confirm the statements of Major La- 
tour. 

One letter, written on the 16th, two days after the gun- 
boat battle, thus concludes : " We are weak here at present— ■ 
say twelve hundred regulars and two thousand militia. We 
expect Coffee, with two thousand more, in a day or two, and 
ere long the Kentucky and Tennessee drafts. When they all 
arrive we are ready to stand against any number the British 
may send. As we are, they may outnumber us, but even if 
my Lord Wellington trained them they are not better sol- 
diers. We will weather the storm like honest fellows, and 
if our weakness is taken advantage of, they shall at least havt; 
a fight in miniature. Our old General stands it nobly, and 
is full of fight. The French turn out handsomely." 

Another letter, also written on the 16th, says : " It would 
be presumptuous to predict the result of an invasion, but ap- 
pearances justify the expectation of its not being ineflectually 
resisted." 

A letter of the 17th contains the following : " If they 
effect a landing, a battle must decide the fate of the city. 
All here have full confidence in General Jackson, and calcu- 
late on a favorable result." ..." General Jackson has 
established the most perfect order and police. He is confident 
he can defend the place." 

A letter of the 22d says : " All this, you may consider, 
has produced a great deal of alarm and some little confusion 
— but custom is a great thing, and by degrees it will become 
familiar ; but I hope the British will not continue long here, 
for they can not expect to be successful unless they have a 
very strong force, and every inch of ground will be contested." 



1814.] JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 69 

CHAPTEK V. 

JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 

" One man contrived to effect Ms escape," says the Subal- 
tern in that part of his narrative which describes the sur- 
rounding of a planter's house near the banks of the Missis- 
sippi, and the seizure of its inmates. 

How many a gallant life hung upon the chances of that 
one man's capture ! How many a wife, mother, sweetheart, 
over the sea, had been spared the desolation of their lives had 
one of the shower of bullets, amid which he fled, have stopped 
his flight ! How differently it might have fared with New 
Orleans, with General Jackson, with the invading army, if 
the news from the Villere plantation had been delayed but a 
few hours ! 

The individual invested with such sudden and extreme 
importance was young Major Gabriel Villere, the son of Gen- 
eral Villere, a Creole planter of ancient lineage, upon whose 
plantation the British were then halting. Major Villere it 
was who had stationed the picket at the mouth of the bayou 
by which the English troops had gained the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi, and stood now upon the high road leading to the 
prize they were in search of, and within a few miles of it. 
The adventures of this young man upon that eventful day, 
as gathered from his own lips, have been affectingly told by 
the admirable author of " Jackson and New Orleans." 

" Secure in his outposts," says the author referred to, " the major was 
sitting on the front gallery of the house, looking toward the river, and 
quietly enjoying his cigar, wliilst his brother Celestin was engaged in clean- 
ing a fowling-piece. Suddenly the major observed some men in red coats 
running toward the river. Immediately he leaped from his chair and 
rushed into the hall, with a view of escaping by the rear of the house. 
What were his hprior and dismay to encounter at the back door several 
armed men. One of these was Colonel Thornton, who with drawn sword 



70 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

called to the major to surrender. There were no braver men than the Vil- 
leres; their heritage was one of dauntless courage and chivalry — but re- 
sistance under such circumstances would have been madness. With in- 
finite mortification the young creole surrendered. Cclestin had already 
been arrested in the yard. The two young men were then confined in one 
of the rooms, closely gULij'ded. until General Keane could come up. These 
events occurred at half-past ten o'clock, on the morning of the 23d of Do 
cember. Surrounded and vigilantly guarded by his captors, Major Vil- 
lere watched eagerly for an opportunity to escape. He felt that if he 
should remain imprisoned, the calumniators of his race would find in the 
circumstance some color for the aspersions of the patriotism and fidelity 
of the Creoles of Louisiana. To repel so base an inference, he determined 
to incur every peril. Springing suddenly from the group of soldiers, he 
leaped through the window of the room in which he was confined, and 
throwing down several of the British, who stood in his way, ran toward a 
high picket fence which inclosed the yard ; clearing this at a bound, in 
the presence of some fifty British soldiers, several of whom discharged their 
arms at him, he made for tlie woods with that celerity and agility for 
which the young Creole hunter is so cUstinguished. The British immedi- 
ately started in hot pursuit, scattering themselves over the field so as to 
surround the fugitive. ' Catch or kill him,' was Thornton's order. 

" Traversing the field behind the house, Villere plunged into the cypress 
forest which girts the swamp, and ran until the boggy nature of the soil 
began to impede his progress. He could distinctly hear the voices of his 
pursuers rallying one another and pointing out the course which he had 
taken. His recapture now seemed inevitable, when it occurred to him to 
climb a large live-oak, and conceal himself in its thick evergreen branches. 
As he was about to execute this design his attention was attracted by a 
low whine or cry at his feet. He looked down and beheld his favorite 
setter crouched piteously on the ground, by her mournful look and action 
expressing more strongly than could the human face or form her sympathy 
for the perils of her master, and her desire to share his fate. The faithful 
creature had followed her master in his flight. What could Villere do with 
the poor animal ? Her presence near the tree would inevitably betray him. 
There was no other hope of escape. His own life might not be of so much 
value, but then the honor of his family, of a proud lineage, the safety of the 
city of his birth, with whose fortunes those of his family had been so' con- 
spicuously associated, the imminent peril in which Jackson and his soldiers 
would be placed by the surprise of the city — these and other considera- 
tions, such as should influence and control a gallant and honorable man, 
suppressed and overwhelmed all tender emotions of pity and affection. The 
sacrifice had to be made. With a deep sigh and eyes fuU of tears, the young 
Creole seized a large stick, and striking the poor, fawning, faithful dog as 



1814.] JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 71 

f5lie cowered at bis feet, soon dispatched her. CoucoaUng the dead body, he? 
ascended the tree, where he remained until the Bi'itish had returned to 
tlieir camp, and the pursuit was relinquished. He then slipped stealthily 
down, and stealing along the edge of the woods hurried to a plantation 
below, where he found his neighbor. Colonel de la Eonde, who, hearing of 
the approach of the British, was hurrying up from Terre aux Boeufs to join 
Jackson. Obtaining a boat, Villere and De la Eonde rowed across th ' 
river, and reached in safety the plantation on the right bank of the 
Mississippi of P. S. Dussau de la Croix, one of the Committee of Public 
Safety of New Orleans. Horses were quickly saddled, and Villere, De la 
Eonde, and De la Croix leaping upon them, put spurs to their animals, and 
rode towards the city as rapidly as the swift little Creole ponies could 
bear them. 

" Thirty-seven years had passed, and the gallant young Creole hero of 
this adventure, emaciated by long sickness and prematurely old, surrounded 
by a family of gallant sons and lovely daughters, sat in that very gallery, 
and on the very spot on which he was surprised by the British, and related 
with graphic distinctness, with kindling eye and voice, hoarse with emo- 
tion, the painful sensation, the agonizing remorse which agitated his soul, 
when compelled to "sacrifice his faithful dog to prevent the surprise of his 
native city and save his own honor. A few weeks after, his worn frame 
was consigned to the mausoleum which incloses the mortal remains of 
many otlier members of a family whose name is so highly honored in the 
annals of Louisiana." 

■' During all the exciting events of this campaign Jackson had barely 
the strength to stand erect without support ; his body was sustained alone 
by the spirit within. Ordinary men would have shrunk into feeble imbe- 
ciles or useless invalids under such a pressure. The disease contracted in 
the swamps of Alabama still clung to him. Eeduced to a mere skeleton, 
unable to digest his food, and unrefreshed by sleep, his life seemed to be 
preserved by some miraculous agency. There, in the parlor of his head 
quarters in Eoyal street, surrounded by his faithful and efficient aids, he 
worked day and night, organizing his forces, dispatching orders, receiving 
reports, and making all the necessary arrangements for the defense of the 
city. 

" Jackson was thus engaged at half past one o'clock, p. m., on the 23cl 
of December, 1814, when his attention was drawn from certain documents 
he was carefully reading by the sound of horses galloping down the streets 
with more rapidity than comported with the order of a city under martial 
law. The sounds ceased at the door of his headquarters, and the sentinel 
on duty announced the arrival of three gentlemen who desired to see the 
general immediately, having important intelligence to communicate. 

" ' Show them in,' ordered the General. 



72 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

" The visitors proved to be Mr. Dussau de la Croix, Major Gabriel Vil- 
lere,. and Colonel de la Ronde. They were stained with mud and nearly 
breathless with the rapidity of their ride. 

" ' What news do you bring, gentlemen ?' eagerly asked the General 

'" Important ! highly important!' responded Mr.de la Croix. 'The 
British liave arrived at Viller^'s plantation, nine miles below the city, and 
are there encamped. Here is Major Villere, who was captured by them, 
has escaped, and will now relate his story.' 

" The Major accordingly detailed in a clear and perspicuous manner the 
occurrences we have related, employing his mother tongue, the French 
language, which de la Croix translated to the General. At the close of 
Major ViUere's narrative, the General drew up his figure, bowed with dis- 
ease and weakness, to its full height, and with an eye of fire and an em- 
phatic blow upon the table with his clenched fist, exclaimed, 

" 'By the Eternal, they shall not sleep on our soil!' 

" Then courteously inviting his visitors to refresh themselves, and sip • 
ping a glass of wine in comphment to tliem, he turned to his secretary and 
aids and remarked, 

" ' Gentlemen, the British are below, we must fight them to-night.' " 

It was not quite a surprise. The evening before, Jackson 
had received information from Colonel De la Ronde that 
some strange-looking vessels had been seen in Lake Borgne, 
below the city, and he had dispatched Major Latour and 
Major Tatum to ascertain if the report were true. " We 
left town," says Major Latour, in his historical memoir, " at 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 23d, and when we ar- 
rived at the boundary of Bienvenu's and la Ronde's plan- 
tations we met several persons flying toward town, who told 
us that the British had got to General Villere's house by the 
canal, and had taken prisoner Major Villere, the general's 
son. It being of the utmost importance to inform General 
Jackson of an event no longer doubtful. Major Tatum imme- 
diatr'ly returned to town, and I proceeded forward as fiir as 
over th3 boundary of Lacoste's and Villere's plantations, 
wKence I discovered British troops occupying the ground 
from the commencement of the angle made by the road in 
that place to the head of the canal. I approached withic. 
rifle-shot of those troops, and judged that their number must 



1814.] JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 73 

amount to sixteen or eighteen hundred men. It was then 
half past 1, p. M." 

Jackson was, therefore, not wholly unprepared to hear of 
the landing. He proceeded to act as though every thing had 
occurred exactly as he had anticipated. His troops were 
widely scattered at the moment. General Coffee's brigade 
was still encamped near the spot where they had first halted, 
four or five miles above the city. Major Planche's battalion 
was at the Bayou St. John, two miles from headquarters. 
The State militia, under Governor Claiborne, were on the Gen- 
tilly road, three miles away ; the regulars were in the city, 
but variously disposed. General Carroll, with his Tennes- 
seans, appear to have been still in the boats that brought 
them down the river. Commodore Patterson, too, was some 
distance off. In a manner perfectly quiet and composed. 
General Jackson dispatched a messenger to each of the corps 
under his command, ordering them with all haste to break 
up their camp and march to positions assigned them : Gen- 
eral Carroll to the head of the upper branch of the Bienvenu ; 
Governor Claiborne to a point further up the Gentilly road, 
which road leads from the Chef-Menteur to New Orleans ; 
the rest of the troops to a plantation just below the city. 
Commodore Patterson was also sent for, and requested to 
prepare the Carolina for weighing anchor and dropping down 
the river. 

These orders issued, the General sat down to dinner and 
ate a little rice, which alone his system could then endure.* 
He then lay down upon a sofa in his office and dosed for a 
short time. It was the last sleep the General was to enjoy 
for seventy hours or more — for five days and nights, one 
writer positively asserts. Who else could have slept at such 
a time ? Before three o'clock he mounted his horse and 
rode to the lower part of the city, where then stood Fort St. 
Charles, on ground now occupied by the Branch Mint build- 

* The General mentioned this to the Rev. Dr. Edgar, of Nashville. His only 
food that day was taken at this meal. It consisted of three or four table-spoona 
full of rice and half a cup of coffee. 



.'^i 



74 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

ing. Before the gates of the fort he took his station, wait- 
ing to see the troops pass on their way to the vicinity of the 
enemy's position, and to give his final orders to the various 
commanders. Drawn up near him, in imposing array, was 
one of the two regiments of regulars, the 44th infantry. Col- 
onel Ross, mustering three hundred and thirty-one muskets. 
Around the General were gathered his six aids, Captain But- 
ler, Captain Raid, Captain Chotard, Edward Livingston, Mr. 
Davezac, Mr. Duplessis. The other regiment of regulars, the 
7th infantry, Major Peire, four hundred and sixty-five mus- 
kets, had already marched down the road, to guard it against 
the enemy's advance. With them were sixty-six marines, 
twenty-two artillerymen and two six-pounders, under Col- 
onel McRea and Lieutenant Spotts, of the regular artillery. 
Captain Beal's famous company of New Orleans riflemen, 
composed of merchants and lawyers of the city, were also 
below, defending the high road, A cloud of dust on the 
levee, and the thunder of horses' feet, soon announced to the 
expectant General the approach of cavalry. Colonel Hinds, 
of the Mississippi dragoons, emerged from the dust-cloud, 
galloping at the head of his troop, whom he led swiftly by 
to their designated post. Coflfee, with his Tennesseans, was 
not far behind. Halting at the General's side, he conversed 
with him for a few minutes, and then, rejoining his men, gave 
the word, " Forward at a gallop," and the long line of back- 
woodsmen swept rapidly past. Next came into view a parti- 
colored host on foot, at a run, which proved to be Major 
Planch d's fine battalion of uniformed companies. " Ah !" 
cried Jackson to his aid Davezac, " Here come the brave 
Creoles." They had run all the way from the Fort St. John, 
and came breathless into the General's presence. In a mo- 
ment they too had received their orders, and were again in 
motion. A battalion of colored freemen, under Major Dac- 
quin, and a small body of Choctaw Indians, under Captain 
Jugeant, arrived, halted, passed on, and the General had seen 
his available force go by. The number of troops that went 
that afternoon to meet the enemy was two thousand one hun- 



1814.] JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 75 

dred and thirty-one,* of whom considerably more than half 
had never been in action. 

The commanders of the different corps had all received 
the same simple orders : to advance as far as the Rodriguez 
Canal, six miles below the city, and two miles above the 
Villere plantation ; there to halt, take positions, and wait 
for orders to close with the enemy. The Eodriguez Canal 
Avas no more than a wide, shallow ditch, which extended 
across the firm ground from the river to the swamp. 

During the bustle attending the departure of the troops 
the city seemed still confident and cheerful. As the men hur- 

* The exact enumeration, according to Major Latour, was as follows : 

Detachment of marines, under the command of Lieutenant Bel- 

levue, . . 66 meu strong. 

A detachment of artillery, with two six-pounders, under the 

immediate command of Colonel M'Rea and Lieutenant Spott, 22 

tth Regiment, Major Peire, 465 

44th, commanded by Captain Baker, 331 

884 

Major PlancM's Battalion. 

Carabiniers, Captain Roche, 86 

Dismounted Dragoons, Major St. Geme, ... "JS 

Louisiana Blues, Captain White, 31 

Francs, Captain Hudry, 33 

Chasseurs, Captain Guibert, 59 

—287 
The battalion of St. Domingo men of color, Major Dacquin, . 210 

Choctaws. Captain Pierre Jugeant, 18 

228 

The left, commanded by General Coffee, was composed as 
follows : 

Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen, forming General 

Coffee's Brigade, . . • 563 

Orleans Rifle Company, Captain Beale, . . . . 62 

Mississippi Dragoons, Major Hinds, . • J^rll^, . • lOT 

732 

In all 2131. 

Eaton states the total to have been 2167, and adds that he derived the state* 
ment from Colonel R Butler, Adjutant-General. 



76 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

ried along the levee the windows were crowded with ladies 
waving their handkerchiefs, and hiding with smiles the anx- 
iety that rent their hearts. Husbands, fathers, brothers,, 
nephews, friends, were recognized in the moving masses of 
soldiers. Wives, mothers, sisters, were discerned at the fam- 
iliar windows. The salutations then hurriedly given were the 
last that were ever exchanged between some of those panting 
soldiers and those they loved. 

Nolte relates an incident of his departure that shows us 
something of the feeling of the hour : "Just as I had put on 
my uniform and taken my musket, a broker ran after me to 
offer me a lot which must be sold that day, because the owner 
feared that they would fall into the hands of the English. 
' Offer something, Mr. Nolte,' said the broker. I had not the 
heart to offer fifty per cent, lower than the price, and, there- 
fore, offered seven cents, more with the view of getting rid of 
the broker than of speculating. In a few moments he came 
back, notes in hand, and said, ' Mr. Nolte, the cotton is yours.' 
There was no time to deliver it, however, for we were obliged 
to march. This little affair was spoken of at Jackson's head- 
quarters as a proof of my trust in a fortunate result of the 
hostilities." 

" On that very day," says Mr. Walker, " a number of the 
ladies of the city met at the residence of Mrs. Cenas, at 
present the consort of Colonel William Christy, himself a 
veteran of 1814-'15, for the purpose of plying their needles 
in the noble task of preparing clothing for the soldiers of Jack- 
son's army, many of whom arrived on the levee in a very ragged 
and destitute condition. While they were thus busily engaged, 
the news was brought into the room that the enemy had just 
landed and were marching on the city. Of course, the ladies 
were a little nervous at first when the alarming intelligence 
was communicated, but Mrs. Cenas remarked that they need 
be under no fear as long as they had Jackson to defend them. 
At the suggestion, however, of one of the party, a message 
was despatched by the ladies to the General, inquiring 'what 
they were to do in case the city was attacked ?' 



1814.J JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 77 

" ' Say to the ladies/ Jackson promptly replied, ' not to 
be uneasy. No British soldier shall enter the city as an enemy 
unless over my dead body.' " 

This was, perhaps, the origin of the story, so often re- 
peated, of the women and children running out into the streets 
in consternation, and gathering round the General's horse, 
Nolte says : "Jackson's resolution was now taken. ' We will/ 
said he, ' now give them a little taste of what they have to 
expect. They shall find out whom they have to deal with.' 
When he heard the women and children crying for terror in 
the streets, he ordered Livingston to tell them that he was 
there, and that the British should never get into the city so 
long as he held the command." Again, says Nolte : " The 
General was burning with impatience to come to close quar- 
ters with the red coats, as he called them. He wanted to 
fght. There wds no computation of relative force, and not 
much idea of tact or plan. Jackson had bent all the strength 
of his will on one single point, and that was to meet and 
drive off the red coats. ' I will smash them/ he would ex- 
claim, 'so help me God !' " 

The General's message to the ladies might have been re- 
assuring for the moment. But when, at last, the town was 
emptied of the armed men, who for so many days had 
thronged its streets, and given a feeling of security to its 
inhabitants, a strange and horrible stillness fell upon the 
place. No accustomed tramp of passing troops ; no dashing 
by of mounted officers ; no exercising in the public grounds ; 
no sound of bugle, drum, or martial band. It was a town 
of anxious women and old men, who could do nothing but 
listen for the expected cannonade, and speculate upon the 
chances of the night. Colonel Napier had not then so elo- 
quently written of the brutal and diabolic excesses of the 
British soldiery at the sack of the Spanish towns. But noth- 
ing was thought too monstrous for them to attempt if Jack- 
son should be unable to preserve the city from their despoil- 
ing hands. Many of the ladies of New Orleans, we are told, 
had provided themsf^lves with daggers, which they wore in 



78 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

their belts that niglit instead of the domestic and congenial 
scissors.'-'" 

The last corps of the army had disappeared in the distance, 
and still the General lingered before the gates of Fort St. 
Charles, looking, with a slight expression of impatience on 
his countenance, toward that part of the river where the 
Carolina was anchored. He saw her, at length, weigh her 
anchor, and move slowly down the stream. She had been 
manned within the last few days, and well manned, as it 
proved, though some of her crew only learned their duty by 
doing it. Captain Henly commanded the little vessel. Com- 
modore Patterson, however, was in no mood to stay in New 
Orleans on such a night, and so went in her to the scene of 
action. 

The Greneral had no sooner seen the Carolina under way, 
than he put spurs to his horse, and gallopefl down the road 
by which the troops had gone, followed by all of his staff, 
except Captain Butler. Much against his will. Captain But- 
ler was appointed to command in the city that night. It 

* And then was revived that vague and horrible terror of an insurrection of 
the slaves. Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, says : — " It was reported, and believed in camp, 
that a British officer visited the city in disguise, and danced at one of the balls. 
The highways were covered with the British Colonel NichoU's proclamation from 
Pensacola, inviting the slaves to insurrection. So intense was the dread of the 
inhabitants of that fearful revolt, that Judge Martin represents the old inhabitants, 
during the anxious night of the 23d December, when General Jackson led his 
small disposable force to attack the British at their first landing on Villere's planta- 
tion, as painfully excited by a mere report that Jackson, before his departure, had 
taken measures, and given orders, for blowing up the magazine, and setting fire 
to various parts of the city, in case the British succeeded in forcing his ranks. 
While frequent explosions of musketry and artillery reminded them that their sons 
were facing warlike soldiers, they grieved, says this historian, that their com- 
mander's inexperience appeared demonstrated by the rash step imputed to him. 
Apprehension was entertained that British emissaries would be ready to induce 
the slaves to begin the conflagration of their ov;ners' houses, and march towards 
the city, spreading terror, dismay, fire, and slaughter — Jackson's firing it being 
taken for the signal to begin the havoc. The idea of thus finding themselves, 
with their wives, children, and old men, driven by the flames of their houses to- 
wards a black enemy bringing down devastation, harrowed up the minds of tha 
mhabitantg." — General Jackson's Fine, p. 12. 



1814.] JACKSON GOES TO MEET THE ENEMY. 79 

was four o'clock in the afternoon when the Carolina left her 
anchorage, and General Jackson rode away from before the 
gates of Fort St. Charles. The day was Friday. 



CHAPTER VI. 

AFTERNOON IN THE BRITISH CAMP. 

That halt of the English troops, when a two hours' march 
would have given them at least temporary possession of New 
Orleans, has subjected General Keane to animadversion from 
friend and foe. But is the criticism just which condemns 
that unfortunate officer .^ I think not. A very slight exam- 
ination of the situation, as it must have appeared to him, is 
sufficient to show that to 'have acted otherwise he must have 
been a Napoleon or a fool. He was neither of those charac- 
ters. 

Major-General John Keane was an Irishman, who, begin- 
ning the career of arms in Egypt under Sir Ealph Abercrom- 
bie, advanced rapidly and deservedly in his profession during 
the French wars, and held now this important independent 
command while he was still in the prime of life. He was a 
handsome, dashing officer. At the head of his regiment of 
impetuous Irishmen, he had led the assault on many a hotly- 
contested field, and never v/ithout winning for himself and his 
command an ample share of the honors of the fight. In this 
campaign, too, up to the moment of the halt, his conduct was 
equally bold and skillful. To have gained the threshold of 
New Orleans in the face of obstacles so numerous and so 
novel, landing where alone an unobstructed landing was 
probable, and pushing forward to a point so near the prize 
with such suddenness and secrecy, was a proof of generalship 
which only needed a few hours more of good fortune to have 
won the applause of the whole world. 



80 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

Why halt, then ? Chiefly because a train of concurring 
circumstances had fixed in his mind the conviction that New 
Orleans was full of troops. He knew, also, that they were 
commanded by " Andrew Jackson, Esquire," as one of the 
British narrators styles the General ; and, in all probability, 
Colonel Nichols and his comrades had conveyed some impres- 
sion of Jackson's quality to the minds of the British officers 
in command. General Keane had with him a body of six- 
teen hundred men ; in twelve hours his force would be 
doubled ; in twenty-four, trebled ; in forty-eight, quadru- 
pled. It was, moreover, a tradition, nay, a settled article of 
faith, in the English army, that the Americans never at- 
tacked, but waited to be attacked ; happy if they could but 
hold their ground against a disciplined foe. The men of the 
advance, too, besides being debilitated by ten weeks of ship- 
board, were extremely fatigued by the labors and exposures, 
day and night, of the last week. How natural, therefore, — 
how inevitable the determination of the British general to 
give his troops a night's rest on the first ground that afforded 
facilities for it ; and the next morning, with renewed strength 
and doubled numbers, to march upon the town. 

It was not alone the representations of the captured 
picket that deceived General Keane as to ackson's numbers. 
The day after the loss of the gun -boats, Mr. Shields, a purser 
of the United States navy, and Dr. Murrell, had been sent 
with a flag of truce to the admiral of the British fleet ; the 
doctor to attend the wounded Americans, the purser to pro- 
cure the liberation of the captured officers on parole. The 
admiral, suspecting that the real object of these gentlemen 
was to ascertain the strength of the expedition, thought pro- 
per to detain them on board his ship, and there they remained 
till the campaign was over. They were closely questioned by 
the admiral as to the condition of the city, and the number of 
troops under Jackson's command ; but, of course, no informa- 
tion could be elicited from them. " Shields," says Major 
Eaton, who is the authority for this story, " was perceived to 
be quite deaf, and calculating on some advantage to be de- 



JS14.] AFTERNOON IN THE BRITISH CAMP. 81 

rived from this circumstance, he and the doctor were placed 
at night in the green room, where any conversation which 
occurred between them could readily be heard. Suspecting, 
perhaps, something of the kind, after having retired, and 
every thing was seemingly still, they began to speak of their 
situation, the circumstance of their being detained, and of 
the prudent caution with which they had guarded themselves 
against communicating any information to the British ad- 
miral. 

" ' But,' continued Shields, ' How greatly these gentle- 
men will be disappointed in their expectations, for Jackson, 
with the twenty thousand troops he now has, and the rein- 
forcements from Kentucky, which must speedily reach him, 
will be able to destroy any force that can be landed from these 
ships.' 

"Every word was heard, and treasured, and not supposing 
there was any design, or that he presumed himself overheard, 
they were beguiled by it, and at once concluded our force to 
be as great as it was represented ; and hence, no doubt, arose 
the reason of that prudent care and caution with which the 
enemy afterwards proceeded ; for, as it was remarked by a 
British officer, the actual strength of General Jackson's army, 
though repeatedly sought after, could never be procured ; it 
was a desideratum not to be obtained." 

Add to these circumstances the fact that General Keane 
was only in temporary command of this army. General Sir 
Edward Pakenham, a connection of the Duke of Wel- 
lington, and a favorite of the English ministry, was the 
person for whom the command and the credit of the expedi- 
tion were designed. He had not yet arrived, but was hourly 
expected. 

In accordance with the plan previously pursued in these 
pages, the reader shall be afforded an opportunity of survey- 
ing the occurrences of this decisive day and night as they 
appeared to English actors in them, and as they seemed to 
American participants. 

The " Subaltern" resumes his naiTative : " Noon had 

VOL. II. 6 



82 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

just passed, when the word was j^iven to halt, by which 
means every facility was aiforded of posting the piquets with 
leisure and attention. Nor was this deemed enough to secure 
tranquility : parties were sent out in all directions to recon- 
noitre, who returned with an account that no enemy nor any 
trace of an enemy could be discerned. The troops were ac- 
cordingly suffered to light fires, and to make themselves com- 
fortable ; only their accouterments were not taken off, and 
the arms were piled in such form as to be within reach at a 
moment's notice. 

" As soon as these agreeable orders were issued, the sol- 
diers proceeded to obey them both in letter and in spirit. 
Tearing up a number of strong palings, large fires were lighted 
in a moment ; water was brought from the river, and provi- 
sions were cooked. But their bare rations did not content 
them. Spreading themselves over the country as far as a 
regard to safety would permit, they entered every house, and 
brought away quantities of hams, fowls, and wines of various 
descriptions ; which being divided among them, all fared well, 
and none received too large a quantity. In this division of 
good things they were not unmindful of their officers ; for 
upon active warfare the officers are considered by the privates 
as comrades, to whom respect and obedience are due, rather 
than as masters. 

" It was now about three o'clock in the afternoon, and all 
had as yet remained quiet. The troops, having finished their 
meal, lay stretched beside their fires, or refreshed themselves 
by bathing, for to-day the heat was such as to render this 
latter employment extremely agreeable, when suddenly a 
bugle from the advanced posts sounded the alarm, which was 
echoed back from all in the army. Starting up, we stood to 
our arms and prepared for battle, the alarm being now suc- 
ceeded by some firing ; but we were scarcely in order when 
intelligence arrived from the front that there was no danger, 
only a few horse having made their appearance, who were 
checked and put to flight at the first discharge. Upon this 
iuformation our wonted confidence returned, and we again 



1814.] THENIGHTBATTLE. 83 

betook ourselves to our former occupations, remarking that, 
as the Americans had never yet dared to attack, there was no 
great probability of their doing so on the present occasion. 

"In this manner the day passed without any further 
alarm ; and darkness having set in, the fires were made to 
blaze with increased splendor, our evening meal was eaten, 
and we prepared to sleep." 



CHAPTER VII. 

DECEMBER T W E N T Y- T H I E D. 

Four o'clock in the afternoon. — Mo-st of the American 
troops have reached the Rodriguez Canal ; others are coming 
up every moment. They are all on, or near the high road, 
which runs along the river's bank. The second division of 
the British army, consisting of the 21st, the 44tli, and the 
93d Highlanders, is nearing the fisherman's village, at the 
mouth of the Bayou Bienvenu. The party in advance is 
quiescent and unsuspecting on and about the Villere planta- 
tion. General Keane and Colonel Thornton are pacing the 
piazza of the Villere mansion, Keane satisfied with his posi- 
tion, Thornton distrusting it. 

Half-past four. — The first American scouting party, con- 
sisting of five mounted riflemen, advance toward the British 
camp to reconnoiter. They advance too far, and retire with 
the loss of one horse killed and two men wounded. The first 
blood of the land campaign is shed ; Thomas Scott, the 
name of the first wounded man. Major Planche's battalion 
of Creole volunteers are now beginning to arrive. Our friend 
Nolte was serving in one of the companies. If Nolte were 
on,y as reliable as he is interesting, he would be a valuable 
aid to us at this moment. Of the march from the city to tny 
rendezvous he gives us this record : " Our major, Planche, 



84 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON, [1814. 

was very much agitated. He turned round to me and said, 
in almost piteous tones, 

" ' Alas ! I scarcely feel that I have courage enough to 
lead fathers of families to battle !' 

" But our captain, Roche, who was ' made of sterner 
Btuff,' and might be called a practical soldier, rejoined, 

"'Don't talk in that way, major! Come now! that's 
not the kind of tone to use at this time !' 

" With these words, he wheeled about to us and shouted, 

" ' Come, lads ! forward ! Do your duty like brave fel- 
lows !' 

" The Villere plantation was about eight or nine miles 
from the city. We hurried toward it with a zeal which, for 
inexperienced militia, who had not yet smelt powder, might 
have been called almost heroic, had not Jackson's own ex- 
ample spurred us on, or had not many remained in careless 
iirnorance of what awaited them. With our silent band of 
musicians in front, almost at a running pace, we reached Vil- 
lere's plantation within about two hours, just as twDight was 
drawing on, and in profound silence." 

Five o'clock. — The Greneral is with his little army, serene, 
determined, confident. He believes he is about to capture or 
destroy those red-coats in his front, and he communicates 
some portion of his own assurance of faith to those around 
him. First, Colonel Hayne, inspector-general of the army, 
shall go forward with Colonel Hind's hundred horsemen, to 
see what he can see of the enemy's position and numbers. 
The hundred horsemen advance ; dash into the British pick- 
ets ; halt while Colonel Hayne takes a survey of the scene 
before him ; wheel, and gallop back. Colonel Hayne reports 
the enemy's strength at two thousand. But what are these 
printed bills stuck upon the plantation fences ? 

" LouisiANiANS ! Remain quiet in your houses. Your 

SLAVES shall BE PRESERVED TO YOU, AND YOUR PROPERTY 
RESPECTED. We MAKE WAR ONLY AGAINST AMERICANS !" 

Signed by General Keane and Admiral Cochrane. A 
negro was overtaken by the returning reconnoiterers, with 



1814] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 85 

printed copies of this proclamation upon his person, in Span- 
ish and French.* 

Twilight deepens into darkness. It is the shortest day of 
the year but four. The moon rises hazy and dim, yet bright 
enough for that night's work, if it will only last. The Ameri- 
can host is very silent ; silent, because such is the order ; 
silent, because they are in no mood to chatter. The more 
provident and lucky of the men eat and drink what they have, 
but most of them neither eat nor hunger. As the night drew 
on the British watch-fires, numerous and brilliant, became 
visible, disclosing completely their position, -and lighting the 
Americans the way they were to go. 

Six o'clock. — The General-in-Chief has completed his 
scheme, and part of it is in course of execution. It was the 
simple old backwoods plan of cornering the enemy ; the best 
possible for the time and place. Coffee, with his own rifle- 
men, with Beale's New Orleans sharpshooters, with Hinds' 
dragoons, was to leave the river's side, march across the plain 
to the cypress swamp, turn down toward the enemy, wheel 
again, attack them in the flank, and crowd them to the river. 
With General Coffee, as guide and aid, went Colonel De la 
Konde, the proprietor of one of the plantations embraced in 
the circle of operations. A circuitous march of five miles 
over moist, rough, obstructed ground, lay before General Cof- 
fee, and he was already in motion. Jackson, with the main 
fighting strength of the army, was to keep closer to the river, 
and open an attack directly upon the enemy's position ; the 
artillery and marines upon the high road ; the two regiments 
of regulars to the left of the road ; Blanche's battalion, Dac- 
quin's colored freemen, Jugeant's Choctaws, still further to 
the left, so as to complete the line of attack across the plain. 
The Carolina was to anchor opposite the enemy's camp, close 
in shore, and pour broadsides of grape and round shot into 
their midst. From the Carolina was to come the signal of 
attack. Not a shot to be fired, not a sound uttered, till the 
schooner's guns were heard. Then — Coffee, Blanche, regu- 

*Latour, 90. 



86 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814, 

lars, marines, Indians, negroes, artillery, Jackson, all advance 
at once, and girdle the foe with fire ! 

Half-past six. — The Carolina arrives opposite General 
Jackson's position. Edward Livingston goes on board of 
her, explains the plan of attackj communicates the Greneral's 
orders to Commodore Patterson, and returns to his place at 
the General's side. " It continuing calm," says the Com- 
modore in his official dispatch, " got out sweeps, and, a few 
minutes after, having been frequently hailed by the enemy's 
sentinels, anchored, veered out a long scope of cable, and 
sheered close in shore abreast of their camp." The Com- 
modore's " few minutes" was three quarters of an hour, at 
least, according to the other accounts. He had more than 
two miles to go before reaching the spot where he " veered 
out the long reach of cable" — itself an operation not done in 
a moment. 

Seven o'clock. — The night has grown darker than was 
hoped. Cofiee has made his way across the plain. Behind 
a ditch separating two plantations he is dismounting his men. 
Cavalry could not be employed uj^on such ground in the 
dark. Leaving the horses in charge of a hundred of his rifle- 
men, he is about to march with the rest to find and charge 
the enemy. He has still a long way to go, and wants a full 
hour, at least, to come up with them. General Cofiee, a man 
of few words, and intent on the business of the hour, delivers 
an oration, in something like these words : 

" Men, you have often said you could fight ; now is the 
time to prove it. Don't waste powder. Be sm'e of your 
mark before firing." 

Jackson is nearly ready to advance. The susceptible Cre- 
oles, of course, could not fall in on such a night for such a 
purpose without enacting a scene or two. "At this mo- 
ment," says Nolte, " Captain Roche stepped in front, and 
commanded — 

" ' Sergeant Eoche !' 

" This was his brother. The latter advanced, and was 
met by the Captain, who said, 



1814.] THENIGHT BATTLE. 87 

" ' Let US embrace, brother ; it may be for the last time.' 

" The request was complied with. Then came a second 
word of command : 

" ' Sergeant Roche, to your post !' " 

There is still a wide gap between General Jackson's divi- 
sion and that under command of Greneral Coffee. Colonel 
Ross, who is acting to-night as brigadier-general (for Jack- 
son had no brigadier), has been ordered, as soon as the fire 
opens, to close that gap with the uniformed com2)anies and 
the colored freemen. 

Half-past seven. — The first gun from the Carolina booms 
over the plain, followed in quick succession by seven others — 
the schooner's first broadside. It lays low upon the moist 
delta a hundred British soldiers, as some compute or guess.* 
Jackson hears it, and yet withholds the expected word of 
command. Coffee hears it, too soon, but he makes haste to 
respond. The English division then landing at the fisher- 
man's village hear it, and hurry tumultuously toward the 
scene of action, and the boats go madly back to Pine Island with 
the news. New Orleans hears it. A great crowd of women, 
children, old men and slaves, assembled in the square before 
the state-house, see the flash and listen to the roar of the 
guns, with emotions that can be imagined, not described. 

Other broadsides follow, as fast as men can load. And 
yet, strange to say, the people on board the terrible schooner 
knew nothing all that night of the effect their fire produced ; 
knew not whether they had contributed anything or nothing 
to the final issue of the strife. Commodore Patterson simply 
says : " Commenced a heavy (and as I have since learned, 
most destructive) fire from our starboard battery and small 
arms, which was returned most spiritedly by the enemy with 
congreve rockets and musketry from their whole force, when, 
after about forty minutes of most incessant fire, the enemy 

* General Kcane, in his official report, (which is full of errors,) says that only 
one man fell at the first fire, Captain Cooke, in his " Narrative,'' says, many 
fell. Mr. "Walker thinks, one hundred. The Subaltern says, " it swept down 
numlers." Pity a poor biographer, dear reader. 



88 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

was silenced. The fire from our battery was continned till 
nine o'clock upon the enemy's flank while engaged in the field 
with our army, at which hour ceased firing, supposing, from 
the distance of the enemy's fire (for it was too dark to see 
anything on shore), that they had retreated beyond the range 
of our guns. Weighed and swept across the river, in hopes 
of a breeze the next morning, to enable me to renew the 
attack upon the enemy, should they be returned to their en- 
campment." 

So much for the Carolina. What she did, we know. 
But I defy any living being to say with positiveness, and in 
detail, what occurred on shore. The contradictions between 
the British and American accounts, and between the various 
American narratives, are so flat and irreconcilable, that the 
narrator who cares only for the truth pauses bewildered, 
and knows not what to believe. But exactness of detail is 
not important in describing this unique battle. A more suc- 
cessful night attack, or one that more completely gained, not 
the object proposed, but the objects most necessary to be 
gained, was never made. That fact alone might suffice. Yet 
let us peer into the thickening darkness, and see what we can 
discern of the credible, the probable, and the certain, borrow- 
ing other people's eyes when our own fail. 

Jackson opened his attack with curious deliberation. He 
waited patiently for the Carolina's guns. And when the 
thunder of her broadside broke the silence of the night, he 
still waited. For ten minutes, which seemed thirty, he let 
the little schooner wage the combat alone, hoping to fix the 
attention of the enemy exclusively upon her. 

Then — Fokwakd ! 

A mistake occurred at the very start. So, at least, avers 
Major Eaton, whose work was written under Jackson's own 
eye. The troojjs were ordered to march toward the enemy 
in columns, and those nearest the General's person did so. 
But the larger number, instead of moving in columns and 
starting ofi" to the left, so as to fill the gap betwen Jackson's 
and Coffee's divisions, marched in line. For a few minutes 



1814.] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 89 

all went wellj and the whole division was rapidly nearing the 
enemy, full of courage and enthusiasm. But soon, by the 
turn of the river, the ground was found to he too narrow for 
the line, which first became compressed, then confused ; and, 
finally, Planche's battalion was forced out of the line, and 
compelled to form in the rear. Jackson saw nothing of this, 
however ;.no one saw it except those whom it immediately 
concerned. Major Planche himself scarcely comprehended it 
— so dark was the night, so broken the ground. 

Down the high road, close to the river, with the seventh 
regiment, the artillery and the marines, Jackson advanced. 
A light breeze from the river blew over the plain the smoke 
of the Carolina's incessant fire, to which was added a fog 
then beginning to rise from the river. Lighted only by the 
flash of the guns and the answering musketry and rockets, 
the General pushed on, and had approached within less than 
a mile of the British headquarters, when the company in ad- 
vance, under Lieutenant McLelland, received a brisk fire 
from a British outpost lying in a ditch behind a fence near 
the road. Colonel Piatt, quartermaster-general, who was 
with this company, ran to the front, and seeing the red- 
coats, by the flash of their own guns, cried out — 
" Come out, and fight like men on open ground." 
Without giving them time to comply with this invita- 
tion, he poured a volley into their midst, and kept up an ac- 
tive fire for four or five minutes. The British picket gave 
way, and over the fence leaj^ed Piatt's company, and occu- 
pied the post they had abandoned. This was the first suc- 
cess of the battle, but it was very short. In a few minutes, 
a large party of British, two hundred, it is said, came up to 
regain their lost position, and opened a fire upon the victorious 
company. Its gallant commander. Lieutenant McLelland, 
fell dead; Colonel Piatt was wounded; a sergeant was killed; 
several of the men were wounded ; and it was going hardly 
with the little band. In the nick of time, however, the two 
pieces of cannon were placed in position on the road, and began a 
most vigorous fire, relieving the advanced company, and com- 



90 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1814. 

pelling the enemy to keep his distance. A second time the 
Americans were successful, for a moment. Soon a formidable 
force of British came up the road, and opened a tremendous 
fire upon the artillerymen and marines, evidently designing 
to take the guns. The marines recoiled before the leaden 
tempest. The horses attached to the cannon, wounded by 
the tire, reared, plunged, became unmanageable, and one of 
the pieces was overturned into the ditch by the side of the 
road. It was a moment of frightful and nearly fatal confu- 
sion. Jackson dashed into the fire, accompanied by two of 
his aids, and roared out with that startling voice of his — 

" Save the guns, my boys, at every sacrifice." 

The electric presence of the General restored and rallied 
the marines as another company of the seventh came up, and 
the guns were " protected," says Major Eaton, which proba- 
bly means drawn out of danger. All this was the work of a 
very few minutes. 

The other companies of the seventh, and the whole of the 
forty-fourth, were meanwhile engaged in that miscellaneous, 
desultory, indescribable manner, of which the Subaltern's 
narrative will in a moment give us some idea. 

Major Planche was not long in the rear. He marched his 
battallion to the left to find an opening for attack. Unfor- 
tunately he did not march far enough to the left ; but ad- 
vancing toward the enemy before he had gone beyond the 
forty-fourth, one of his companies mistook that regiment for 
one of the enemy's, and opened fire upon it, wounding several 
men. Planche gallantly atoned for the deplorable error, led 
his battalion against the enemy, and gave them several effec- 
tive volleys. Our acquaintance, Nolte, now catches his first 
glimpse of the red coats. He desires us to understand that 
he surveyed the scene with the composure of a veteran. " It 
was by the flash of the muskets," he says, " that we, for the 
first time, got a sight of the red coats of the English, who 
were posted on a small acclivity in front of us, about a gun- 
shot distant. I noted this circumstance, and at the same 
moment observed the j^eculiar method of firing by the English, 



1814,] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 91 

who still kept up the old custom of three deep ; one row of 
men half kneeling, and two other ranks firing over their shoul- 
ders. This style of firing, along with the darkness of the 
evening, explained to me the reason why the enemy's balls, 
which we heard whistling by, mostly flew over our heads, and 
only seven men were wounded, five of them belonging to our 
own company. After the lapse of about twenty minutes, the 
word was passed to cease firing. On the English side only a 
few retreating discharges were dropped in from time to time. 
We saw about sixty English captured by the Tennessee rifle- 
men, and led off towards the road, and at the same time 
learned that about one half of our sharpshooters from the 
city had fallen into the hands of the English." 

Before these simultaneous attacks the English gradually 
gave way. Not at every point, however. But, upon the 
whole, the Americans gained upon them, and got nearer and 
nearer the British headquarters. 

General Coffee, though the signal came a little too early 
for him, was in the thick of the fight sooner than he had ex- 
pected. Having reached the Villere plantation, he wheeled 
toward the river, and marched in a widely extended line, each 
man to fight, in the Indian fashion, on his own account. He 
expected to come up with the enemy near the river's bank, 
and would have done so if the Carolina had begun her fij-e 
half an hour later. The enemy, however, had then had time 
to recover from their confusion, to abandon the river, and to 
form in various positions across the plain. General Cofiee 
had not advanced a hundred yards from the swamp before he 
was astonished to find himself in the presence of the British 
eighty-fifth. "A war of duels and detachments" ensued, 
with varying fortune. But the deadly and unerring fire of 
Coffee's cool riflemen, accustomed from of old to night war- 
fare with Indians, acquainted with all the arts of covert and 
approach, was too much for the British infantry.* From 

* " The short rifle of the English service was not equal to the long and deadly 
instrument of the •western hunter and Indian, fighter. For many years after the 
liuts of Lacoste bore striking proofs of the accuracy of the aim of the Tennes- 



92 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

orange grove, frora behind negro huts, the eighty-fifth slowly 
retired toward the rivel", until, at length, they took post be- 
hind an old levee, near the high road. Bayonets alone could 
dislodge them thence, and the Tennesseans had no bayonets. 
Coffee, too, retired to cover, and sent to the General for 
orders. 

Captain J. N. Cooke, a British officer, who wrote a nar- 
rative of this unexampled campaign, gives a lively picture of 
the battle at the time when Coffee was fighting his way across 
the plain : " Lumps and crowds of American militia, who 
were armed with rifles and long hunting knives for close 
quarters, now crossed the country ; and by degrees getting 
nearer to the headquarters of the British, they were met by 
some companies of the rifle corps and the eighty-fifth light 
infantry ; and here again such confusion took place as seldom 
occurs in war — the bayonet of the British and the knife of 
the American were in active opposition at close quarters 
during this eventful night, and, as pronounced by the Ameri- 
cans, it was ' rough and tumble.' 

" The darkness was partially dispelled for a few moments 
now and then by the flashes of fire-arms ; and whenever the 
outlines of men were distinguishable, the Americans called 
out, ' don't fire, we are your friends !" Prispners were taken 
and retaken. The Americans were litigating and wrangling, 
and protesting that they were not taken fairly, and were hug- 
ging their fire-arms, and bewailing their separation from a 
favorite rifle that they wished to retain as their lawful prop- 
erty. 

seans, and of the severity of the combat in this part of the field. Concealing 
themselves behind the huts, the British waited until the Tennesseans got into 
the midst of them. Then they rushed forward and engaged with them hand to 
hand. Neither party having bayonets, they were forced to club their guns, and 
thus many fine rifles were ruined. But the more cautious of the Tennesseans 
preferred their long knives and tomahawks to thus endangering that arm which 
is their chief reliance in war, their inseparable companion in peace and war. 
Many a British soldier who was found dead on the field, with heavy gashes on 
his forehead, or deep stabs in his bosom, was buried under the conviction that 
he came to his death by that military and chivalric weapon, the sword."— 
Jackson and Ofew Orleans. 



1814.] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 93 

"The British soldiers, likewise, hearing their mother 
tongue spoken, were captured by this deception ; when such 
mistakes being detected, the nearest American received a 
knock-down blow ; and in this manner prisoners on both 
sides, having escaped, again joined in the fray, calling out 
lustily for their respective friends. Here was fighting, and 
straggling flashes of fire darting through the gloom, like the 
tails of so many comets. 

"At this most remarkable night-encounter the British 
were fighting on two sides of a ragged triangle, their left face 
pounded by the fire from the sloop, and theh right face en- 
gaged with the American land forces. Hallenwas still fight- 
ing in front at the apex. 

" At one time the Americans pushed round Hallen's right, 
and got possession of the high road behind him, where they 
took Major Mitchell and thirty riflemen going to his assist- 
ance. But Hallen was inexorable, and at no time had more 
than one hundred men at his disposal ; the riflemen coming 
up from the rear by twos and threes to his assistance, when 
he had lost nearly half his picket in killed and wounded. 
And behind him was such confusion that an English artillery 
officer declared that the flying illumination encircling him was 
so unaccountably strange that had he not pointed his brass 
cannon to the front at the beginning of the fight he could not 
have told which was the proper front of battle (as the English 
soldiers were often firing one upon the other, as well as the 
Americans), except by looking towards the muzzle of his 
three pounder, which he dared not tire, from the fear of bring- 
ing down friends and foes by the same discharge ; seeing, as 
he did, the darkness suddenly illuminated across the country 
by the flashing of muskets at every point of the compass." 

The incidents attending the capture of Major Mitchell 
are amusingly related by the author of " Jackson and New 
Orleans." " As the 93d Highlanders," says this diligent 
writer, " were expected every moment to reach the camp, 
Major Mitchell was strongly impressed with the belief that 
Coffee's men, who wore hunting-shirts, which, in the dark, 



94 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814:. 

were not unlike the Highland frock, were the men of the 93d, 
and greatly needing their aid, he eagerly advanced, calling 
out, ' Are those the 93d T ' Of course,' shouted the Ten- 
nesseans, who had no particular number. Mitchell thereupon 
pushed boldly forward within a few feet of the men, when Cap- 
tain Donaldson stepped in front, and slapping the astounded 
Briton on the shoulder, called out, ' You are my prisoner,' 
aiid requested the Major's sword. This request was enforced 
by half a dozen long rifles, which covered his body at every 
assailable point. With infinite mortification the gallant 
Major surrendered,* and with several other prisoners was 
borne off by the Tennesseans. Though at the moment of 
his capture, and subsequently, Major Mitchell was treated 
with the kindness and generosity due to a gallant foe, he 
never recovered his good humor, and embraced every oppor- 
tunity of exhibiting his spleen and disgust. The oblique 
movement of Coffee's brigade to the right produced some dis- 
asters which were sorely lamented by the Americans." 

The Subaltern's narrative of this fearful and glorious 
night is singularly interesting. He says truly that no man 
could know much of what passed except the events that oc- 
curred in his immediate presence, and therefore he confines 
his narrative to what he himself did and saw : 

" My friend Grey and myself had been supplied by our soldiers with a 
couple of fowls taken from a neighboring hen-roost, and a few bottles of 
excellent claret, borrowed from the cellar of one of the houses near. We 
had built ourselves a sort of hut, by piling together in a conical form a num- 
ber of large stakes and broad rails torn up from one of the fences ; and a 
bright wooden fire was blazing at the door of it. In the Avantonness of 
triumph, too, we had lighted some six or eight wax-candles, a vast quan- 
tity of which had been found in the store-rooms of the chateaux hard by ; 
and having done ample justice to our luxurious supper, we were sitting in 
great splendor, and in high spirits, at the entrance of our hut, when the 
alarm of the approaching schooner was communicated to us. With the 
sagacity of a veteran, Grey instantly guessed how matters stood : he was 
the first to hail the suspicious stranger, and, on receiving no answer to hia 
challenge, he was the first to fire a musket in the direction of her anchor 
age. But he had scarcely done so when she opened her broadside, causing 



1814.] THE NIGHT-BATTLE. 95 

'Jio instantaneous abandonment of fires, viands, and mirth, throughout the 
bivouac. 

" As we contrived to get our men tolerably well around us, Grey and 
myself were among the first who rushed forth to support the pickets, and 
check the advance of the enemy upon the right. Passing as rapidly as 
might be through the ground of encampment, amidst a sh:wer of grape- 
shot from the vessel, we soon arrived at the pond, which, being forded, we 
found ourselves in front of the farm-house, of which I have already spoken 
as composing the headquarters of General Keane. Here we were met by 
a few stragglers from the outposts, who reported that the advanced com- 
panies were all driven in, and that a numerous division of Americans was 
approaching. Having attached these fugitives to our Httle corps, we pushed 
on, and in a few seconds reached the lower extremity of a sloping stubble- 
field, at the otlier end of which we could discei'n a long line of men, but 
whether they were friends or foes the darkness would not permit us to 
determine. We called aloud, for the purpose of satisfying our doubts; 
but the signal being disregarded, we advanced. A heavy fire of musketry 
instantly opened upon us, but so fearful was Grey of doing injury to onr 
own troops, that he would not permit it to be returned. "We accordingly 
pressed on, our men dropping by ones and twos on every side of us, till, 
having arrived within twenty or thirty yards of the object of our curiosity, 
it became to me evident enough that we were in front of the enemy. But 
Grey's humane caution still prevailed ; he was not convinced, and till he 
should be convinced it was but natural that he should not alter his plans. 
There chanced to be near the spot where we were standing a huge dung- 
heap, or rather, a long, sohd stack of stubble, behind which we directed the 
men to take shelter, whilst one of us should creep forward alone, for the 
purpose of more completely ascertaining a fact of which all, except my 
brave and noble-minded comrade, were satisfied. The event proved that 
my sight had not deceived me ; I approached within saber's length of the 
line, and having ascertained, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the line 
was composed of American soldiers, I returned to my friend, and again 
urged him to charge. But there was an infatuation upon him that night, 
for which I have ever been unable to account. He insisted that I must be 
mistaken ; he spoke of the improbability which existed that any part of 
the enemy's army should have succeeded in taking up a position in rear of 
the station of one of our outposts, and he could not be persuaded that the 
troops now before him were not the 95th rifle corps. At last it was agreed 
betv/een us that we should separate ; that Grey, with one half of the party, 
should remain where he was, whilst I, with the other half, should make a 
short detour to the right, and come down upon the flank of the hne from 
whose fire we had suffered so severely. The plan was carried into imme- 
diate execution. Taking with me about a dozen or fourteen men, I quitted 
Qrey, and we never met again. 



m 



B6 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1814. 

" How or when he fell I know not ; but, judging from the spot and atti- 
tude in which I afterwards found his body, I conceive that my back could 
have been barely turned upon him, when the fatal ball pierced his brain. 
He was as brave a soldier and as good a man as the British army can boast 
of, beloved by his brother officers and adored by his men. To me he was 
as a brother; nor have I ceased even now to feel, as often as the 23d of 
December returns, that on that night a tie was broken, than which the 
progress of human life will hardly furnish one more tender or more strong. 
But to my tale. 

" Leaving Grey — careless, as he ever was in battle, of his own person, 
and anxious, as far as might be, to secure the safety of his folloAvers — I 
led my little party in the direction agreed upon, and fortunately falling in 
with about an equal number of English riflemen, I caused them to take 
post beside my own men, and turned up to tlie front. Springing over the 
paling, we found ourselves almost at once upon the left flank of the enemy, 
and we lost not a moment in attacking it. But one volley was poured in, 
and then bayonets, musket-butts, sabers, and even fists came instantly into 
play. In the whole course of my military career, I remember no scene at 
all resembling this. We fought with the savage ferocity of bull-dogs, and 
many a blade, which till to-night had not drank blood, became in a few 
minutes crimsoned enough. 

" Such a contest could not, in the nature of things, be of very long con- 
tinuance. The enemy, astonished at the vigor of our assault, soon began 
to waver, and their wavering was speedily converted into flight. Nor did 
we give them a moment's time to recover from their panic. With loud 
shouts we continued to press upon them, and, amidst the most horrible din 
and desperate carnage, drove them over the field and through the little 
village of huts, of which notice has already been taken as surrounding the 
mansion on our .advanced right. Here we found a number of our own 
people prisoners and under a guard of Americans. But the guard fled as 
we approached, and our countrymen, catching up such weapons as came 
first to hand, joined in the pursuit. 

" In this spot I halted my party, increased, by the late additions, to the 
number of forty ; among whom were two gallant young ofliicers of the 
95tb. We had not yet been joined, as I expected to be joined, by Grey, 
and feeUng that we were at least far enough in advance of our own line, 
we determined to attempt nothing further, except to keep possession of the 
village should it be attacked. But whilst placing the men in convenient 
eituations, another dark line was pointed out to us, considerably to the left 
of our position. That we might ascertain at once of what troops it was 
composed, I left my brother officers to complete the arrangements wliich 
we had begun, and walking down the field, demanded, in a loud voice, to 
be informed who they were that kept post in so retired a situation. A 



1814.] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 97 

voice from the throng made answer that they were Americans, and begged 
of mc not to fire upon my friends^. Willing to deceive them still further, 
I asked to what corps they belonged ; the speaker replied that they were 
the second battalion of the first regiment, and inquired what had become 
of the first battalion. I told him that it was upon my right, and assuming 
a tone of authority, commanded him not to move from his present situation 
till I should jpin him with a party of which I was at the head. 

" The conversation ended here, and I returned to the village, when, 
communicating the result of my inquiries to my comrades, we formed our 
brave little band into Une, and determined to attack. The men were cau- » 
tioned to preserve a strict silence, and not to fire a shot till orders were 
given, and they observed these injunctions, and with fixed bayonets and 
cautious tread advanced along the field. As we drew near, I called aloud 
for the commanding officer of the second regiment to step forward, upon 
which an elderly man, armed with a heavy dragoon saber, stepped out of 
the ranks. When he discovered by our dress that we were English, tliis 
redoubtable warrior lost aU self-command ; he resigned his sword to me 
without a murmur, and consented at once to- believe that his battalion was 
surrounded, and that to offer any resistance would but occasion a needless 
loss of blood. Nor was he singular in these respects : his followers, placing 
implicit reliance in our assurances that they were hemmed in on every side 
by a very superior force, had actually begun to lay down their arms, and 
would have surrendered, in all probability, at discretion, but for the supe- 
rior gallantry of one man. An American officer, whose sword I demanded, 
instead of giving it up, as his commander had done, made a cut at my head, 
which with some difficulty I managed to ward off", and a few soldiers near 
him, catching ardor from his example, discharged their pieces among our 
troops. The sound of firing was no sooner heard than it became general, 
and as all hope of success by stratagem might now be laid aside, we were 
of necessity compelled to try the effect of violence. Again we rushed into 
the middle of the throng, and again was the contest that of man to man, 
in close and desperate strife, till a panic arising among the Americans they 
dispersed in all directions and left us masters of the field. 

" In giving a detail so minute of my own adventures this night I beg 
to repeat Avhat has been stated already, that I have no wish whatever to 
persuade my readers that I was one whit more cool or more daring than 
my companions. Like them I was driven to depend, from first to last, 
uj)on my own energies ; and I believe the energies of few men fail them 
when they are satisfied that on them alone they must depend. Nor was 
the case different with my comrades. Attacked unexpectedly, and in the 
dark, — surrounded, too, by a numerous enemy, and one who spoke the 
same language with ourselves, — it is not to be wondered at if the order 
and routine of civilized warfare were everywhere set at nought. Each 

VOL. II, 7 



I 



98 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1814. 

man who felt disposed to command was obeyed by those who stood near 
him, without any question being asked as to his authority ; and more feats 
of individual gallantry were performed in this single night than many reg- 
ular campaigns might furnish an opportunity to perform. 

" The night was far spent, and the sound of firing had begun to wax 
faint, when, checking the ardor of our brave follower?, we collected them 
once more together, and fell back into the village. Here, likewise, consid- 
erable numbers from other detachments assembled, and here we learned 
that the Americans were repulsed on every side. The combat had been 
long and obstinately contested • it began at eight o'clock in the evening 
and continued till three in the morning — but the victory was ours. True, 
it was the reverse of a bloodless one, not fewer than two hundred and fifty 
of our best men having fallen in the struggle : but even at the expense of 
such a loss, we could not but account ourselves fortunate in escaping from 
the snare in which we had confessedly been taken. 

" To me, however, the announcement of the victory brought no rejoic- 
ing, for it was accompanied with the intelligence that my friend was among 
the killed. I well recollect the circumstances under which these sad news 
reached me. I was standing with a sword in each hand — my own and 
that of the officer who had surrendered to me, and, as the reader may 
imagine, in no bad humor with myself or with the brave fellows about 
me, when a brother officer, stepping forward, abruptly told the tale. It 
came upon me like a thunderbolt ; and casting aside my trophy, I thought 
only of the loss which I had sustained. Eegardless of every other matter, 
I ran to the rear, and found Grey lying behind the dung-heap, motionless 
and cold. A little pool of blood, which had coagulated under his head, 
pointed out the spot where the ball had entered, and the position of hia 
limbs gave proof that he must have died without a struggle. I can not 
pretend to describe what were then my sensations, but of whatever na- 
ture they might be, little time was given for their indulgence ; for the bugle 
sounding the alarm, I was compelled to leave him as he lay, and to join 
my corps. Though the alarm proved to be a false one, it had the good 
efiFect of bringing all the troops together, by which means a regular line 
was now, for the first time since the commencement of the action, formed. 
In this order, having defiled considerably to the left, so as to command the 
highway, we stood in front of our bivouac till dawn began to appear 
when, to avoid the fire of the schooner, we once more moved to the 
nver's bank, and lay down. Here, during the whole of the succeeding 
day, the troops were kept shivering in the cold, frosty air, witliout fires, 
without provisions, and exhausted by fatigue; nor was it till the return 
of night that anj' attempt to extricate them from their comfortless situation 
could be made. 

" Whilst others were thus reposing, I stole away, with two or three 



1814.] THE NIGHT BATTLE. 99 

men, for the purpose of performing the last sad act of affection which it 
was possible for me to perform for my friend Grey. As we had com- 
pletely changed our ground, it was not possible for me at once to discover 
the spot where he lay ; indeed, I traversed a large portion of the field 
before I hit upon it. Whilst thus wandering over the arena of last night's 
contest, the most shocking and most disgusting spectacles everywhere 
met my eyes. I have frequently beheld a greater number of dead bodiea 
within as narrow a compass, though these, to speak the truth, were nu- 
merous enough, but wounds more disfiguring, or more horrible, I certainly 
never witnessed. A man shot through the head or heart hes as if he 
were in a deep slumber; insomuch, that when you gaze upon him you 
experience little else than pity. But of these many had met their deaths 
from bayonet wounds, saber cuts, or heavy blows from the butt ends of 
muskets ; and the consequence was, that not only were the wounds them- 
selves exceedingly frightful, but the very countenances of the dead exhib- 
ited the most savage and ghastly expressions. Friends and foes lay to- 
gether in small groups of four or six, nor was it difficult to tell almost the 
very hand by which some of them had fallen. Nay, such had been the 
deadly closeness of tiie strife, that in one or two places an English and 
American soldier might be seen with the bayonet of each fastened in the 
other's body. 

" Having searched for some time in vain, I at length discovered my 
friend lying where, during the action, we had separated, and where, when 
the action came to a close, I had at first found him ; shot through the tem- 
ples by a rifle bullet so remarkably small as scarcely to leave any trace of 
its progress. I am well aware that this is no fit place to introduce the work- 
ing of my own personal feeUngs, but he was my friend, and such a friend 
as few men are happy enough to possess. We had known and loved each 
other for years ; our regard had been cemented by a long participation in 
the same hardships and dangers ; and it can not therefore surprise if even 
now I pay that tribute to his worth and our friendship which, however 
unavailing it may be, they both deserve. 

" When in the act of looking for him I had flattered myself that I 
should be able to bear his loss with something like philosophy, but when I 
beheld him pale and bloody I found all my resolution evaporate. I threw 
myself on the ground beside him, and wept like a child. But this was no 
time for the indulgence of useless sorrow. Like the royal bard, I knew 
that I should go to him, but he could not return to me, and I knew not 
whether an hour would pass before my summons might arrive. Lifting 
him, therefore, upon a cart, I had him carried down to headquarter house, 
now converted into an hospital, and having dug for him a grave at tlie bot- 
tom of the garden, I laid him there as a soldier should be laid, arrayed, not 
in a shroud, but in his uniform. Even tlie privates whom I brought with 



100 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON, [1814. 

me to assist at his funeral mingled their tears with mine, nor are many so 
fortunate as to return to the parent dust more deeply or more sincerely la- 
mented. 

" Retiring from the performance of this melancholy duty, I strolled into 
th e nospital and visited the wounded. It is here that war loses it grandeur 
and show, and presents only a real picture of its effects. Every room in 
the house was crowded with wretches mangled, and apparently in the 
most excruciating agonies. Prayers, groans, and, I grieve to add, the most 
horrid exclamations, smote upon the ear wherever I turned. Some lay at 
length upon straw, with eyes half closed, and Hmbs motionless ; some en- 
deavored to start up, shrieking with pain, while the wandering eye and 
incoherent speech of others indicated the loss of reason, and usually fore- 
told the approach of death. But there was one among the rest whose ap- 
pearance was too horrible ever to be forgotten. He had been shot through 
the windpipe, and the breath making its way between the skin and the 
flesh had dilated him to a size absolutely terrific. His head and face were 
particularly shocking. Every feature was enlarged beyond what can well 
be imagined ; whilst his eyes were so completely hidden by the cheeks and 
forehead as to destroy aU resemblance to a human countenance. 

" Passing through the apartments where the private soldiers lay I next 
came to those occupied by officers. Of these there were five or six in one small 
room, to whom Uttle better accommodation could be provided than to their 
inferiors. It was a sight peculiarly distressing, because all of them chanced 
to be personal acquaintances of my own. One had been shot in the head, 
and lay ga'sping and insensible ; another had received a musket ball in the 
belly, which had pierced through and lodged in the back-bone. The former 
appeared to suffer but little, giving no signs of life, except what a heavy 
breathing produced ; the latter was in the most dreadful agony, screaming 
out, and gnawing the covering under which he lay. There were many 
besides these, some severely and others slightly hurt; but as I have already 
dwelt at sufficient length upon a painful subject, I shall only observe, that 
to all was afforded every assistance which circumstances would allow; and 
that the exertions of their medical attendants were such as deserved and 
obtained the grateful thanks of even the most afflicted among the sufferers 
themselves." 

General CoiFee's own nan-ative of tlie night battle, as con- 
tained in a hasty letter to his father-in-law, is before me. 
" My brigade," he says, " met the enemy's line near four hun- 
dred yards from the river. The fire on both sides was kept 
up mostly very brisk until we drove them to the river bank, 
where they gave a long and heavy fire, and finally the enemy 



1814.] THE NIGHT ATTACK. 101 

fell behind tlie levee or river bank that is thrown up. The 
battle had now lasted near two and a half hours. The regu- 
lars had ceased firing near one hour before I drew my men 
back." 

That is all this modest hero had to say of his exploits 
io-night. 

His young relative, John Donelson, was more full with 
regard to his general's deeds aad his own. " I came/' he wrote 
to his father, " very nigh falling into the hands of the enemy 
with the whole of my company, on the night of the 23d. 
Some minutes after the action had commenced. General Cof- 
fee ordered a charge. I immediately, as soon as I understood 
the order, moved on to the charge with my company. The 
enemy gave way both to my right and left. I charged on 
near Lord Pakenham's quarters, made several prisoners and 
killed several of the enemy. I passed on to the end of a large 
garden and halted, discovering none of the enemy in front, 
and intended waiting until the men who charged on my left 
came uj), but they were met and repulsed by the enemy. 
The enemy having discovered the position that I had taken, 
fell immediately in my rear, and marched directly towards 
me. I hailed them as they advanced, thinking that they were 
the men that had charged on my left. They answered that 
they were General Coffee's men, having by some means learned 
the General's name. They advanced within about ten steps, 

ordered us for d d Yankee rebels to lay down our arms. 

Discovering my mistake, I answered them, they be d d, 

and ordered my men to open a fire upon them, which they done, 
and brought them to a halt, which enabled us to make good 
our retreat to the right, and fell in with Colonel Williamson's 
regiment. They advanced upon us at port arms, and as soon 
as they discovered that we did not intend to surrender, they 
were ready at once to fire. Never did I experience such a 
shower of shot in all the engagements that I have been in 
heretofore. Three of my men fell dead. Three surrendered; 
the balance I got off safe. Major Cavannough, who had 



102 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814, 

fallen in with me in the charge, likewise surrendered. I have 
enjoyed my health tolerably well since I have been here. 

" Uncle Jackson, I am afraid, will not be able to stand 
this climate long. He looks very badly at present, and haa 
broken very much." * 



CHAPTER VIII. 

AFTER THE BATTLE. 

Such were the scenes enacted on the plains of the Delta 
in the evening of December the 23d, 1814, for about the space 
of an hour and a half. 

Nine o'clock. — The Carolina, as we have seen, ceases her 
deadly fire. The second division of English troops have 
arrived, and mingled in the battle, more than repairing the 
casualties of the night in the English army. The fog, rising 
from the river, has spread densely over the field, first envel- 
oping Jackson's division, which was nearest the river, then 
rolling over the entire plain. The General has heard nothing 
of General Coffee since he parted with him at six o'clock. He 
concludes now to suspend all operations till the dawn of day. 
Coffee's messenger finds the General, at length, and departs 
with an order for General Coffee to withdraw his men from 
the field, and rejoin the right wing with all despatch. 

Ten o'clock. — The American troops have retired, and are 
spread over the plain a mile or more from the scene of con- 
flict. The wounded, all of them that can be found, are 
brought in and conveyed toward the city. The inhabitants 
of New Orleans have learned enough of the issue of the fight 
to allay their apprehensions of immediate danger; but women 
still sit at home or flit about the streets in an agony of sus- 
pense, to learn something of the fate of fathers, husbands an<i 
* MSS. of Tennessee .Historical Society. 



1814.] AFTER THE BATTLE. 103 

brothers. The arrival of British prisoners is noised about, 
cheering all but those who have staked more than life in the 
contest. General Jackson has, as yet, no thought but to re- 
new the battle the mom.ent it is light enougli to find the foe ; 
and, to that end, sends a dispatch to General Carroll, who ig 
guarding the city from attack from above, ordering him, if no 
sign of an enemy has appeared in that quarter, to join the 
main body instantly with all his force. General Carroll will 
lose no time in obeying a command so welcome. 

The battle over, we can reckon up its cost, while the 
troops, re-assembled, are eagerly narrating their several ad- 
ventures, or performing sad duties to wounded comrades and 
dead. 

The British have lost, to-night, according to General 
Keane's official report, forty-six killed, one hundred and 
sixty-seven wounded, and sixty-four prisoners and deserters. 
Lieutenant De Lacy Evans, afterwards member of Parlia- 
ment, and, more recently, one of the heroes of the Crimea, 
was among the wounded. The American loss was : killed, 
twenty-four ; wounded, one hundred and fifteen ; missing, 
seventy-four. Among the Americans slain. General Jackson 
and General Coffee had to lament Lieutenant Lauderdale, of 
Tennessee, their beloved comrade and efficient officer in the 
Creek war. 

With individual exceptions, few in number and unim- 
portant in result, the men of both armies had done their hard 
dntj well. Fields more brilliant have been won and lost; but 
this was far more than a common battle, where the combat- 
ants are puppets and the cause the rivalship of kings. These 
rough riflemen were the men who had first conquered the 
western world from the wilderness and the savage, and had 
now rushed to defend it from the invader. The warfare in 
which they were engaged was entirely legitimate and noble, 
and it was peculiarly fit that the heroes of the occasion should 
have been Jackson, Coffee, and their brave Tennesseans. 

We may not refuse space in these pages to the passage of 
Gene^ral Jackson's dispatch, in which he distributes, and re- 



104 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON [1814. 

cords imperishably, fhe honors of tlie niglit. "The best 
compliment/' says the Greneral, " that I can pay to General 
Coifee and his brigade is to say they behaved as they have 
always done while under my command. The seventh, led by 
Major Peire, and the forty-fourth, commanded by Colonel 
Ross, distinguished themselves. The battalion of city mili- 
tia, commanded by Major Planche, realized my anticipations, 
and behaved like veterans. Savary's volunteers* manifested 
gi-eat braveiy ; and the company of city riflemen, having 
penetrated into the midst of the enemy's camp, were sur- 
rounded, and fought their way out with the greatest heroism, 
bringing with them a number of prisoners. The two field 
pieces were well served by the officer commanding them. All 
my officers in the line did their duty, and I have every reason 
to be satisfied with the whole of my field and staff. Colonels 
Butler and Piatt, and Major Chotard, by their intrepidity, 
saved the artillery. Colonel Hayne was everywhere that 
duty or danger called. I was deprived of the services of one 
of my aids. Captain Butler, whom I was obliged to station, 
to his great regret, in town. Captain Eeid, my other aid, 
and Messrs. Livingston, Duplessis and Davezac, who had 
volunteered their services, faced danger wherever it was to be 
met, and carried my orders with the utmost promptitude. 
Colonel Dellaronde, Major Villere of the Louisiana militia. 
Major Latour of engineers, having no command, volunteered 
their services, as did Drs. Kerr and Flood, and were of great 
assistance to me." 

Thus every one is mentioned with honor, excepting alone 
the General in command, the energy of whose single soul had 
made possible the encounter. Major Latour gracefully sup- 
plies the omission. " It would not be proper," he proudly says, 
"for one ivhose name has been mentioned in general orders to 
make particular mention of the several individuals who dis- 
tinguished themselves. But," he adds, " I can not decline 
paying the tribute of justice to General Jackson, to say that 
no man could possibly have shown more personal valor, more 
* The colored freemen, raised by Col. Savary, but commanded by Major Dacquin 



1814.] AFTEK THE BATTLE. ' 105 

firmness and composure, than was exMbited by him tlirough 
the whole of this engagement, on which depended, perhaps, 
the fate of Louisiana. I may say, without fearing to be 
taxed with adulation, that on the night of the 23d General 
Jackson exposed himself rather too much. I saw him in ad- 
vance of all who were near him, at a time when the enemy 
was making a charge on the artillery, within pistol shot, in 
the midst of a shower of bullets, and in that situation I ob- 
served him spiriting and urging on the marines and the right 
of the seventh regiment, who, animated by the presence and 
voice of their gallant commander-in-chief, attacked the en- 
emy so briskly that they soon forced him to retire." 

One o'clock in the morning. — Silence reigns in both camps. 
There have been occasional alarms during the night, and some 
firing ; enough to keep both armies on the qui vive. Noise 
of an approaching host from the city is heard soon after one, 
which proves to be General Carroll and his men, who have 
marched down with Tennessean swiftness. But Jackson has 
changed his mind. British deserters have brought informa- 
tion of the arrival of reinforcements to General Keane's army, 
and of still further forces to arrive on the morrow. Is it pru- 
dent to risk the campaign and the city upon an open fight 
between twenty-five hundred raw troops without bayonets, 
and six or seven thousand perfectly disciplined British soldiers, 
who have bayonets and know how to use them ? That 
question, argued around the General's bivouac at midnight, 
admitted of but one answer. Nolte and others assign to 
Edward Livingston the merit of having dissuaded the General 
from his purpose of renewing the strife at the dawn of day. 
But the supposition is not necessary. The study of Jackson's y/ 
campaigns will convince any one that he was quite as remark- 
able for prudence as for daring. To him may be justly ap- 
plied McLeod's description of Charles Edward : " He was the 
most cautious man, not to be a coward, and the bravest man, 
not to be rash, that I ever saw." It was resolved, then, in 
the midnight counsel on the fog-covered field, to retire at day- 
break to the old position behind the Rodriguez canal, there to 
if 



106 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1814 

throw up whatever line of defense might be possible, and 
await the enemy's attack. The two men-of-war shall an- 
chor off the levee and cover the high road with their guns. 
If necessary, the levee shall be pierced, and the plain between 
the two armies flooded. Hinds' dragoons, who could not join 
in the night battle, shall hold their position between the two 
armies, and conceal the contemplated movements. 

Slowly, very slowly, the hourg of darkness wore away. 
" The night," says Nolte, " was very cold. Wearied by our 
long march, and standing in the open field, we all wanted to 
make a fire, and at length, at the special request of our major, 
permission to kindle one was obtained. Within twenty min- 
utes we saw innumerable watch-fires blazing up in a line ex- 
tending, like a crescent, from the shores of the Mississippi to 
the woods, and stretching far away behind the plantations of 
Villere, Lacoste, and others, occupied by the English, on whose 
minds, as well as on our own, the impression must have been 
produced, that Jackson had many more troops under his com- 
mand and near the spot than any one had supposed." 

The fires were not lighted too soon ; for, in the fight, 
many of Coffee's men had thrown away their long coats, and 
stood shivering through the night in their shirt-sleeves. In- 
deed, bot^ brigades of Tennesseans were in sorry plight with 
regard to clothes when they arrived, and few came out of the 
battle with a whole garment. There will be busy sewing- 
circles to-morrow in New Orleans, seasoned, not with scandal, 
but with tales of the brave deeds done by the ragged heroes 
of the night battle. And all over the field shall wander, after 
dawn, cold Tennesseans, hunting up lost coats, lost toma- 
hawks and knives, lost horses, and, alas ! lost comrades, cold 
for ever, for whom there will be proud mourning in the log- 
houses of Tennessee. " These poor fellows," wrote a British 
ofi&cer who, with General Keane, walked over part of the field, 
" presented a strange appearance ; their hair, eye-brows, and 
lashes were thickly covered with hoar-frost, or rime, their 
bloodless cheeks vying with its whiteness. Few were dressed 
in military uniforms, and most of them bore the appearance 



1814.] AFTER THE BATTLE, 107 

of farmers or husbandmen. Peace to their ashes ! they had 
nobly died in defending their country." * 

Before me are two letters, written the night after the bat- 
tle, which, though they contain little that the reader does not 
know, have still a certain value as showing the feeling of the 
hour at the scene of action. With what breathless interest 
they were read in the northern newspapers of that day, when 
the heart of the country stood still, waiting, with blended hope 
and fear, to learn the issue of events transpiring at New Or- 
leans, no reader of this generation can know. The following 
was w^ritten at New Orleans, at one o'clock on the morning 
of the 24th, by a gentleman who had been in the action, and 
brought out of its fog and darkness eleven prisoners. 

" Before I had time to fold up the letter I wrote you to- 
day the alarm-gun was sounded, and I forthwith repaired to 
the tented field." .... 

" We commenced the engagement about half-past seven, 
which continued pretty hot until about a quarter after nine, 
when the firing ceased, on the part of the British first. I can 
not tell the number of killed and wounded on either side. 
Towards the close of the engagement, our company of rifle- 
men was broken by a charge from the enemy, and has suffered 
a good deal. Captain Beale commanded the right and myself 
the left of the company. I had then with me only fifteen 
men, three of whom were wounded, and I had also eleven 
prisoners, a part of the army that was at Washington. In 
this situation I thought it best to order my men to march 
towards the swamp, and accordingly marched about halfway 
to town, back of the plantations. I have safely delivered the 
prisoners, and am now at home very much fatigued. I shall 
set out again before day with my men to the field of battle. 
Our army is well formed and will not be surj)rised. To-mor- 
row morning the battle will be renewed. The two armies 
nearly keep their ground. I believe we have the advantage 
BO far, but I can give you nothing particular. Our army has 
been reenforced to-night by one thousand of General Carroll's 

* Recollectioas of an Artillery OfQcer, vol. i. p. 311. 



108 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

men, and I expect hard fighting to-morrow. The prisoners 
that our company have made state their numbers to be about 
twelve thousand men, and about three thousand debarked, 
with whom we fought ; that they are commanded by General 
Keane ; that there are two regiments of blacks, one thousand 
men each."* 

The other letter was written at four o'clock on the same 
morning, by an exempt soldier serving in the city : 

"I wrote you by the last mail, advising of the alarm that pervaded this 
city, in consequence of the approach of the enemy. I have now to inform 
you that, one o'clock yesterday, intelligence had been received that a land- 
ing had been effected on the shore of Lake Borgne, and that they had 
penetrated to the Mississippi, at a distance of about six miles below the 
town ; the alarm was given, and before five o'clock General Jackson, with 
a chosen corps of about two thousand men, left the town to meet them, 
and at seven an action commenced and lasted nearly two hours, terminat- 
ing in the retreat of the enemy to the woods, but not without considerable 
loss on our part, particularly amongst the uniform com^Danies of militia of 
the city. I was not myself in the action, being in a corps of ten men who 
were by law exempt from militia duty, but who since the alarm had been 
doing duty in the city. I was with my company on guard, and have already 
had brought to my post ten of the prisoners, and learu there are about 
twenty more at other posts in the city. 

" The men that I have with me, I mean prisoners, stated that the force 
is commanded by Admiral Cochrane and General Keane, that it consists 
of about three thousand men, and that they expected to have taken the 
city this morning by daylight, not apprehending any resistance. They have 
not been able to land their artillery, and unless they effect their escape in 
the night there is no doubt they will have to surrender in the morning. 
General Jackson having at least double their force, supported by the ship 
Louisiana, of twenty guns, schooner OaroUna, of fourteen, and a gun-boat, 
which will annoy them severely. 

" The troops of all descriptions are eager for battle, and from all ac- 
counts have performed in the first engagement with prodigious valor. 
Chew was in the heat of it in a rifle corps, and took one prisoner and killed 
several others — he came up with a party of prisoners and returned to the 
field of action at daylight The enemy was taken by surprise; they were 
encamped for the night, and were at supper when the action commenced 
on our part. We have so many contradictory stories respecting the killed 
and wounded, that I do not think it prope; to say anything on the subject 
—none of your acquaintances seem to have suffered. 

* National IntelUgencer, January 21, 1815. 



1814.] DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH. 109 

" I do not think you need apprehend anything for me, as it is not prob- 
able that the company that I command will be called out of town. Should 
however, circumstances require, I must submit, however reluctantly, and 
trust my fate to the disposer of all human events. 

" Fi-om the Government or State House, at which I was posted, I could 
distinctly see the fire; and the report of the guns has, as you may suppose, 
excited a great alarm amongst the inhabitants. Should any further partic- 
ulars be received before the closing of the mail at six o'clock, I will add 
them. 

" At the moment of closing I learn that a colonel, two majors, and three 
captains, prisoners, have come to town. 

" Six o'clock^ A. M. — The day is breaking, and we are in anxious ex- 
pectation of hearing it ushered in by the sound of our artillery."* 



CHAPTER IX. 

DECEMBER TWENTY- FOURTH. 

The Eoderiguez canal was an old mill-race, partly filled 
up and grown over with grass. In the early days of the col- 
ony the planters built their mills on the levee, and obtained 
water power by cutting canals from the river to the swamp, 
through which poured an abundant flood during the periodi- 
.cal swellings of the river. The Roderiguez canal crossed the 
plain where the plain was narrowest ; and this circumstance 
it was that rendered the position chosen by General Jackson 
for his line of entrenchments the very best which the vicin- 
ity afforded. 

Daylight dawned. The fog slowly lifted. Never was the 
blessed light of day welcomer to the longing sons of men. 
The earliest light found the main body of Jackson's army in 
their former position behind the immortal canal. Every thing 
that New Orleans could furnish in the shape of spade, shovel, 
pickaxe, crowbar, wheelbaiTow, cart, had been sent for, hours 

* New York Evening Post, January 26, 1815. 



110 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

before, and the first supplies began to arrive almost as soon 
ds ,the men were ready to use them. Now let there be such 
digging, shoveling, and heaping up of earth, as the Delta of 
the Mississippi, or any other delta under heaven, has never 
seen since Adam delved ! 

" Here," said Jackson, " we will plant our stakes, and 
not abandon them until we drive these red coat rascals into 
the river or the swamp." 

The canal was deepened and the earth thrown up on the 
side nearest the city. The fences were torn away, and the 
rails driven in to keep the light soil from falling back again 
into the canal. Soft palms, which had never before handled 
anything harsher than a pen, a fishing-rod, or a lady's waist, 
blistered and bled, and felt it not. Each company had its 
own line of embankment to throw up, which it called its 
castle, and strained every muscle in fierce but friendly 
rivalry to make it overtop the castles of the rest. 

The nature of the soil rendered the task one of peculiar 
difficulty. Dig down three feet anywhere in that singular 
plain and you come to water. Earth soon became the scarcest 
of commodities near the lines, and had to be brought from 
far, after the first hours. An idea occurs to an ingenious 
French intellect. Cotton hales! The town is full of cotton; 
and lo ! here, close to the lines, is a vessel laden with cotton, 
waiting for a chance to get to sea. But let Nolte tell the 
story of his own cotton : — 

" Jackson, who at once adopted the plan, was anxious to lose no time. 
It was intimated to him that in the city he could procure plenty of cotton, 
at from seven to eight cents per pound ; but that it would cost, a whole 
day to bring it to the spot. He was then told that not far from the camp, 
and in the rear of his position, there lay a bark in the stream laden with 
cotton, for Havana ; the name of this vessel was the Pallas, unless my 
memory, after the lapse of thirty-eight years, deceives me, and she was to 
have sailed before the arrival of the British force. Her cargo consisted of 
two hundred and forty-five bales which !■ had shipped previously to the 
invasion, and the remainder, about sixty bales, belonged to the Spaniard, 
named Fernando Alzar, resident at New Orleans. It was only when the 
cotton had been brought to the camp, and they were proceeding to Jay the 



1814.] DECEMBER TWENTY- FOURTH, 111 

first bales in the redoubt, that the marks struck my attention, and I recog- 
nized my own property. Adjutant Livingston, who had been my usual 
legal counsel at New Orleans, that same evening inspected battery No. 3, 
where the men Avere arranging some bales. I was somewhat vexed at the 
idea of their taking cotton of the best sort, and worth from ten to eleven 
cents, out of a ship already loaded and on the point of sailing, instead of 
procuring the cheaper kind, which was to be bad in plenty throughout the 
suburbs of the city, at seven or eight cents, and said as much to Livingston. 
He, who was never at a loss for a reply, at once answered, '' Well, Mr. 
Nolte, if this is your cotton, you, at least, will not think it any hardsliip to 
defend it." This anecdote, which was first related by myself, gave rise to 
the story that Jackson, when a merchant was complaining of the loss of 
his cotton, had ordered a sergeant to hand the gentleman a rifle, with the 
remark, ' No one can defend these cotton bales better than their owners 
can, and I hope you will not leave the spot!' " 

The story is not all told by Nolte, however. The idea, 
plausible as it was, did not stand the test of service. The 
first cannonade knocked the cotton bales about in a manner 
that made the General more eager to get rid of them than he 
had been to use them. Some of the bales, too, caught fire, 
and made a most intolerable and persistent smoke, so that, 
days before the final conflict, every pound of cotton was re- 
moved from the lines.* A similar error was made by the 
enemy, who, supposing that sugar would offer resistance to 
cannon balls equal to sand, employed hogsheads of sugar in 
the formation of their batteries. The first ball that knocked 
a hogshead to pieces and kept on its destructive way un- 
checked, convinced them that sugar and sand, though often 
found together, have little in common. 

During the 24th the entire line of defense, a mile long, 
was begun, and raised, in some places, to a height of four or 
five feet. The work was not interrupted by the enemy for a 
moment ; nor was there any alarm or sign of their approach. 
Before night two small pieces of cannon were placed in posi- 
tion on the high road. 

In the course of the morning Major Latour was ordered 
to cut the levee at a point one hundred yards below the lines. 

* Jackson and New Orleans. 



112 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

The water rushed through, the opening and flooded the road 
to the depth of three feet. A day or two after an engineer 
was sent below the British camp to let in the water behind 
them, so as to render their position an island. If the river 
had been as high as it occasionally is in December, and always 
is in the spring, the campaign would have had a ludicrous and 
bloodless termination ; for nearly the whole plain could have 
been laid under water, and the enemy would have found no 
sufficient resting j)lace for the soles of so many feet. It 
chanced, however, that the rise of the river at this time was 
only temporary. The water soon fell to the level of the road ; 
and the piercing of the levee really aided the English, by fill- 
ing up and rendering more navigable the creeks in their rear, 
by which their supplies were brought up. For a day or two 
only the flooding of the road was serviceable in giving an ap- 
pearance of perfect security to the lines near the river. 

Early in the morning the Carolina, from her anchorage 
opposite the British camp, and the Louisiana, from an ad- 
vantageous position a mile above, played upon the enemy 
whenever a red coat showed itself within range. G-eneral 
Keane found himself, to his boundless astonishment, be- 
sieged ! Not a column could be formed upon the plain, 
which was torn up in every direction by the Carolina's accu- 
rate and incessant fire. Never was an aniiy more strangely, 
more unexpectedly, more completely paralyzed. They could 
do absolutely nothing but cower under embankments, skulk 
behind huts, lie low in dry ditches, or else retire beyond the 
reach of that terrible fire which they had no means of silencing 
or answering. 

The Subaltern thus continues his nan-ative : — 

" Not a moment was lost by the sailors (during the night of the 23d) 
in returning to Pine Island. Intelligence of the combat spread like wild- 
fire ; the boats were loaded even beyond what was strictly safe, and thus, 
by exerting themselves in a degree almost unparalleled, our gallant seamen 
succeeded in bringing the whole army into position before dark on the 24th. 
The second and third brigades, therefore, now took up their ground upon 
the spot where the late battle had been fought, and resting their right upon 



1814.] DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH. 113 

the woody morass, extended so far towards the river as that the advance 
by wheeling up might continue the line across the entire plain. 

" But instead of taking part in this formation the advance was still fet- 
tered to the bank, from which it was additionally prevented from moving 
by the arrival of another large ship (the Louisiana), which cast anchor 
about a mile above the schoonei'. Thus were three battalions kept station- 
ary by the guns of these two formidable floating batteries, and it was clear 
that no attempt to extricate them could be made without great loss, unless 
under cover of night. During the whole of the 24th, therefore, they re- 
mained in this uncomfortable situation ; but as soon as darkness had well 
set in a change of position was effected. Withdrawing the troops, com- 
pany by company, from behind the bank, General Keane stationed them 
in the village of negro huts ; by which means the high road was aban- 
doned to the protection of a picket, and the left of the army covered by a 
large chateau. 

" Being now placed beyond risk of serious annoyance from the ship- 
ping, the whole army remained quiet for the night. How long we were 
to continue in this state nobody appeared to know; not a whisper wag 
circulated as to the time of advancing, nor a surmise ventured respecting 
the next step likely to be taken. In our guides, to whose rumors we had 
before listened with avidity, no further confidence was reposed. It was 
quite evident, either that they had purposely deceived us, or that their in- 
formation was gathered from a most imperfect source; and hence, though 
they were not exactly ploced in confinement, they were strictly watched, 
and treated more hke spies than deserters. Instead of an easy conquest, 
we had akeudy met with a vigorous opposition ; instead of finding the in- 
habitants ready and eager to join us, we found the houses deserted, the 
cattle and horses driven away, and every appearance of hostility. To 
march by the only road was rendered impracticable, so completely was it 
commanded by the shipping. In a word, all things had turned out dia- 
metrically opposite to what had been anticipated ; and it appeared that 
instead of a trifling affair, more likely to fill our pockets than add to our 
renown, we had embarked in an undertaking which presented difficulties 
not to be surmounted without patience and determination." 

To whicli a passage from the narrative of Captain Cooke 
may be added, though his censures of General Keane are un- 
just. For General Keane to have advanced, on the 24th, in 
the face of such a fire, and against a city which he still sup- 
posed to swarm with troops, would have been the height of 
rashness, even if it had been possible, which it, jDi'obably, 
was not. 



114 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

" Tne morning of the 24th," says Captain Cooke, " broke sluggishly, 
and the smoking ports of the sloop (it was a sore thorn in the side of the 
British headquarters) still projected its iron thunder amongst the besieged, — 
for how can persons be designated otherwise under such circumstances ? 
The British troops would have been too glad to have been ordered to ad- 
vance from a spot where they were so annoyed. And, by marching on the 
skirts of the wood on their right, they might have reached New Orleans, 
free from harm of any consideration, at the distance of a mile from the 
American sloop and the ship of sixteen guns, and also nearly three quarters 
of a mile from the cresent battery, which, being isolated, and once turned, 
would have been no longer tenable. 

" As a proof thereof, this Held-work, which was open from behind, in 
the end swelled into importance, as a sort of memento of the utter want of 
enterprise on the part of the British general. And in front of this batteiy 
hinged a series of military maneuvers more remarkable than perhaps is to 
be shown in the annals of the world. And, alas, it proved too true that 
insignificant objects are not to be despised, and left to be captured at the 
will and pleasure of the dilatory. 

" The whole of this day was lost by the British general, and thereby 
gained by his opponent, the former preferring to keep his troops under an 
irritating fire rather than move on. Every five minutes gained by the 
Americans was of vital importance, and every hour lost by the British, 
who were waiting for reinforcements, was the coming death-blow to their 
final hopes of success; for fresh troops and guns were in hke manner com- 
ing from a distance to the assistance of General Jackson, and the hopes of 
the Americans were excited, supposing the British were really crippled, 
which was not the case. The whole of this day most of the people, now 
placed under martial law in New Orleans, were anxiously looking for the 
entrance of the British, minute after minute, and were lost in chagrin and 
amazement when night again closed without their entrance into the city." 
[Who told you that, Captain ?] 

" By the morning of the 25th, all the scattered remains of the British 
force were landed by piecemeal, hour after hour, from the Isle aux Poix, 
owing to the prodigious exertions of the sailors. All eyes were still cast 
on the American schooner, whose sides still smoked by day, and at night 
vomited iron harbingers from its ports into the bivouac of the British, so 
that, in point of fact, the city of New Orleans and Greneral Jackson now 
became only a secondary consideration, and the discussion was how to get 
rid of this watery dragon ; for the destruction of which heavy guns were 
sent for to the fleet, if possible, to blow her out of the water. 

" General Jackson, profiting by this floating deception, placed there to 
allare tlie British general, took advantage of his own maneuver, whicli, 
fortunately for him, had the desired efiect; and he prolonged the broad ditch 



1814.] DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH. 115 

by making a cut across the high road to the bank of the Mississippi, about 
one hundred yards behind the crescent battery on the high road. 

" This work was executed as a sort of forlorn hope to save New Or- 
leans even for a day. And behind this cut and the ditch the American 
general, with the most prompt dispatch, constructed a barricade of nearly 
three quarters of a mile in length, extending from the Mississippi on his 
right to the impassable wood on his left, all across a flat and naked plain, 
and within a few hundred yards of the British out-guards. 

" The manner of putting this barricade together was most curious, as, in 
the first instfince, detached barrels and sugar casks were brought up and 
left here and there standing isolated, the apertures between them being 
filled up with mud and all sorts of odds and ends placed along the edge of 
the ditch, so as to form a temporary screen to protect the defenders against 
musketry ; the barricade, being hardly breast high, looked like some con- 
temptible expedient, but the ditch, ten feet wide and two or three feet 
deep, protected this barricade in front, making a pretty tolerable field posi- 
tion in the first instance. 

" Four heavy pieces of cannon were now in the crescent battery, which 
made it somewhat more respectable. The rude barricade, as a war strat- 
agem, was botched together in a sore, stragghng way, but was added to 
and improved in strength from hour to hour, and the interstices betwixt 
the casks and other crevices of these rough and ready materials were 
caulked up with mud and other materials first coming to hand. All this 
labor was executed without any annoyance from the British advanced 
posts, and actually within one mile and a quarter of their headquarters, by 
a defeated mass of peasantry, who only stood their ground because no one 
molested them. And perhaps history affords no .example of a similar ex- 
pedient being executed under such circumstances across a naked plain " 

Another officer, Cai3tain Hill, of the artillery, posted at the 
landing place to hurry forward the guns, tells us that " the 
day dragged on most miserably ; at the arrival of every boat 
my inquiries were renewed about ' these vile guns,' but noth- 
ing satisfactory could I learn. Small parties of troops con- 
tinued to land, and were immediately sent forward. Amongst 
the officers I encountered many old acquaintances, who were, 
for the most part, extremely anxious in their inquiries of 
what had already occurred ; and some absolutely expressed 
their fears that they should be too late to see a shot fired, as, 
before they got up to their brigades, they imagined New Or- 
leans must be in the possession of the British. These apure- 



116 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

hensions I very easily quieted, giving tliem my honest opin- 
ion that we should find more difficulty in the conquest than 
had been anticipated ; and from no other cause than the dis- 
tance we were from our supplies, and the various obstacles 
existing to the transport of troops and ammunition." 

The omnipresent activity of General Jackson on this im- 
portant day no words can adequately describe. We catch 
brief glimpses of him, in the various narratives, riding along 
the rising line of embankment, cheering on the laboring troops, 
cheered by them as he passed, suggesting expedients here, ap- 
plauding those of others there, passing quick decisive judg- 
ments on the plans of the engineers, sending off aids, hearing 
reports, spying the enemy through his glass, keeping every 
man at his utmost stretch of exertion. It was not the enemy 
in his front that gave him the most anxious concern ; for he 
felt that, for the moment, he was master of the situation 
there. But he had been surprised once, in spite of all his 
vigilance. Might he not be surprised again ? There were so 
many avenues of approach to the city. Might not the seem- 
ing inactivity of the enemy be a feint, designed to cover a 
landing elsewhere ? A party was sent, in the course of the 
day, to Barrataria, under the command of Major Keynolds, 
and the guidance of Jean Lafitte, to resist any attempts in 
that region ; at least, to give timely notice if the enemy 
should enter the bay. Messengers were dispatched to all 
other vulnerable points, exhorting and commanding the pick- 
ets and garrisons to sleepless vigilance. " The battery I have 
placed under your command," he wrote to Major Lacoste, at 
the Chef-Menteur, " must be defended at all hazards. In you 
and the valor of your troops I repose every confidence ; let 
me not be deceived. With us eveiy thing goes on well ; the 
enemy has not yet advanced. Our troops have covered them- 
selves with glory ; it is a noble example, and worthy to be 
followed by all. Maintain your post, nor ever think of re- 
treating." Major Latour was hurried off with a reinforce- 
ment of two hundred men to strengthen the post ; for, among 
the rumors of the day, was one that the enemy were prepar- 



1814.] DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH. 117 

ing to attack the half-finished worJis at the head of Lake 
Borgne. 

There was no rest for Greneral Jackson, and, what was 
more remarkable, he seemed to need none. Major Baton 
makes a statement on this subject which severely tasks the 
credulity of his readers. "The concern and excitement," 
says Baton, " produced by the mighty object before him, were 
such as overcame the demand of nature, and for five days 
and four nights he ivas without sleep, and constantly em- 
ployed. His line of defense being completed on the night of 
the 27th, he, for the first time since the arrival of the enemy, 
retired to rest and repose." Edward Livingston, in careless, 
familiar conversation, used to say, " three days and three 
nights. Nor, during these days," the same gentleman was 
accustomed to say, " did the General once sit at table or 
take a regular meal. Food was brought to him in the field, 
which he would oftenest consume without dismounting, and 
always without discontinuing the transaction of business." 
When Mr. Livingston, fearful of the consequences of such 
unremitted toil upon a constitution severely shattered, would 
remonstrate with him, and implore him to take some repose, 
he would reply : " No, sir ; there's no knowing when nor 
where these rascals will attack. They shall not catch me 
unprepared. When we have driven the d — d red coat villains 
into the swamp, there will be time enough to sleep." 

And on this busy Saturday, the day before the best day 
of the Christian year, while such events as these were trans- 
piring on the Delta of the Mississippi, what a difierent scene 
was enacting at Ghent, three thousand miles away ! In Sen- 
ator Seward's Life of John Quincy Adams we read : " Mr. 
Todd, one of the Secretaries of the American Commissioners, 
and son-in-law of President Madison, had invited several gen- 
tlemen, Americans and others, to take refreshments with him 
on the 24th of December, At noon, after having spent some 
time in pleasant conversation, the refreshments entered, and 
Mr. Todd said : ' It is twelve o'clock. Well, gentlemen, I an- 
nounce to you that peace has been made and signed between 



118 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

America and England.' In a few moments, Messrs. Gallatin, 
Clay, Carroll and Hughes entered, and cohfirmed the annun- 
ciation. This intelligence was received with a burst of joy 
by all present. The news soon spread through the town, and 
gave general satisfaction to the citizens. At Paris the intel- 
ligence was hailed with acclamations. In the evening the 
theaters resounded with cries of ' God save the Americans.' " 
Had there then been an Atlantic telegraphic cable ! ! 



CHAPTER X. 

AN EARNEST CHRISTMAS. 

A MERRY Christmas, I had almost written ; foi, indeed, 
there was merriment in both armies on that Christmas Sun- 
day, that doubly sacred festival of the religion of peace and 
good will. 

The American troops, at work all day upon the entrench- 
ments, under the eye of a leader in whom they confided, and 
whose approving word was felt to be reward enough, were 
very cheerful, and not unfrequently gay and hilarious. From 
earliest dawn to latest dusk the work went on ; the entire 
available brain and muscle, both of the city and the army, 
being concentrated upon the single object of rendering the 
lines impregnable. With one exception, every horse in New 
Orleans was employed in the public service, also all oxen and 
mules. Whoever could dig, whatever could draw, whoever 
could devise and direct, whatever tool or instrument could be 
turned to account, was drawn into that vortex of devoted and 
cheeerful endeavor.* 

* The following story (from the Cleveland, Ohio, Review) seems to rest on 
good authority. It is probable enough : — " Captain Shreve was commander of a 
vessel which plied the ' Father of Waters,' and which, during the period General 
Jackson had New Orleans under martial law, made its appearance at. the levee 
of that city. General Jackson, bemg apprised of the arrival of the vessel, at ones 



1814.] AN EARNEST CHRISTMAS. 119 

Ono horse alone, as I have said, was exempt. To Edward 
Livingston, as a special mark of favor, and for a purpose only 
' CSS dear to Jackson's heart than Livingston's, was granted 
the privilege of retaining one of his horses from the public 
service. In the minds of all the people there was some dim 

sent for Captain Shreve, and announced to him tliat he should consider himself, 
his crew and vessel, as in the service of Government, and hold himself in readi- 
ness to discharge any duty that might be imposed upon him. Captain Shreve 
accepted the conditions, and obtained permission from General Jackson to make 
some repairs to his vessel, before being compelled to do active service. 

" While these repairs were in progress, and the British army was daily ex 
pected, a number of citizens applied to Captain Shreve, i ; ^questing him to con- 
vey their families fifty miles up the river to a place of safety. The Captain 
explained his situation, but assured them that if they could obtain General Jack- 
son's consent, he would himself interpose no objection. A deputation of the citi- 
zens applied to General Jackson, and drained his consent. Captain Shreve had" 
freighted his vessel with many ladies and children, and a quantity of valuable 
goods, when he received a message from General Jackson, ordering him to per- 
form some service, which would compel him to discharge his living freight, and 
disarrange his plans. Captain Shreve bluntly told the officer who had brought 
the message that he would not obey the order. The officer expostulated with 
Shreve, and held up to hhn the terrors of Jackson's displeasure ; but Shreve 
was built of quite as unbending metal as General Jackson, and indignantly re- 
fused to do the bidding. 

" The officer returned to the ' old chief,' and detailed to him Captain Shreve's 
refusal. In a towering passion, the General ordered a file of men to arrest Shreve, 
and bring him into his presence. 

Little time elapsed before the enraged Captain stood in the presence of the 
General. The latter, fiercely eyeing Captain Shreve, in a voice husky with in- 
tense passion, made the inquiry : 

" ' By , Captain Shreve, dare you disobey my orders V 

'' 'Yes, by , I dare T was the vehement reply of the undaunted Captain. 

" Jackson could not repress the expression of surprise which spread itself over 
his face at the unexpected reply of the daring Captain, and, in a tone of voice 
considerably milder than his first inquiry, bade Shreve explain his conduct. 
Upon the explanation being given, Jackson dismissed him, simply saying that 
he had forgotten his promise to the citizens, whose wives and children Captain 
Shreve then had upon his vessel. 

" During Jackson's presidency Congress made appropriations for the removal 
of the snags, which made the navigation of the Mississippi river very dangerous. 
Notwithstanding that many of his political friends applied to General Jackson 
to secure the appointment to superintend that important work, and that Captain 
Shreve was his poUtical enemy, General Jackson persisted in awarding the place 
to the stern and honest old captain ; and the success with which he performed 



120 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

outline of a plan to be pursued in c ase the enemy should take 
the. city. Such confidence had Edward Livingston in the 
nonor and humanity of the Barratarian chiefs, that he had 
assigned to Pierre Latitte the charge of his beloved wife and 
child. If the British should succeed in penetrating the lines, 
PieiTC, whose post was at Fort St. John, two miles above the 
city, was to hasten to Livingston's residence, and convey to 
a })lacc of salety, in a little chaise that stood ready for the 
pui-])()se, Mrs. Jjivingston and lier daughter, then a beautiful 
child of sev(>n, afterwards famous as Cora Livingston, the 
belle of Washington in President Jackson's day. It is 
pleasant to know that the grim and steadfast warrior, amid 
all the hurly-burly of the siege, found time to love and caress 
this little girl, and win her heart. She sat in his lap and 
played around his high splashed boots, at headquarters, while 
he was busied in the affairs of his great charge. All children 
. loved this man, and liked to get very close to him, and be 
noticed and fondled by him ; but none loved him better than 
this fair child, who saw him first when he was in his fiercest 
mood, worn with war, disease and care. Nothing could ex- 
ceed his tenderness to her. For her sake, and for the sake 
of those who loved her, he allowed one poor nag to repose in 
his stable, while every other serviceable quadruped was hard 
at work in the soft mire and cold mist of the delta. 

There was no exemption for men, however. Even those 
fathers of families whom Major Planche commanded found 
it hard to get permission to go to toAvn for an hour or two. 
Some of them were a whole week at the lines without seeincr 
their families. Nay, the gentlemen volunteers who surrounded 
the General's person, and over whom he had no military au- 
thority, discovered that he had taken them at their word very 
literally, and ex})ected them to set an example of endurance 

tlio duly fittcstod Jnckson's sagacity. Slirove invented apparatus adapted to 
the prosecution of the work, and completed it to the satisfaction of all interested; 
and at a late day succeeded in removing the great Red river raft, which had 
been considered impracticable. This raft was over thirty miles in length, and 
for years had blocked up tbo entire river." 



1814.] AN EARNEST CHEISTMAS. 121 

and diligence. It may have been on this Christmas day that 
a pretty scene occurred between the General and Louis Liv- 
ingston (a fine, gallant youth of sixteen, the son of Edward 
Livingston), which shows at once the delicacy and the firm- 
ness of Jacl<son, 

" May I go to town to-day. General ?" asked the young 
man who had been complimented with the title of Cap- 
tain. 

" Of course, Captain Livingston," replied the General, 
" you may go. But ouglit you to go ?" 

The youth blushed, bowed, saluted ; and, withdrawing 
witliout a word, returned to his duty. 

The ladies of the city were all assiduity. There was work 
enough for every kind lieart and nimble hand in New Orleans. 
A hundred wounded soldiers, and as many more sick from 
exposure were tenderly cared for by the Ursuline sisters, who 
were, and are, ever prompt where suffering and danger unite 
to repel al] who are less fearless and devoted than themselves. 
Coffee's ragged heroes were soon supplied with the most essen- 
tial articles of clothing, through the generosity and diligence 
of the sewing circles. Major Eaton, writing years after and 
from the midst of the men whom the ladies of New Orleans 
had relieved, and speaking, as it were, for them, says : 
" Such generous conduct, in extending assistance at a mo- 
ment when it was so much needed, while it conferred on those 
females the highest lienor, could not fail to nerve the arm of 
the brave with new z('al for the defense of their benefactresses. 
This distinguished mark of their patriotism and benevolence 
is still remembered, and often as these valiant men are heard 
to recount the dangers they have passed, and with peculiar 
pride to dwell on the mingled honors and hardships of the 
campaign, they breathe a sentiment of gratitude to those who 
conferred upon them such distinguished marks of their kind- 
ness, and who, by timely interference, alleviated their misfor- 
tunes and their sufferings." 

The light of that Christmas morning found the English 
army disheartened, almost to the degree of despair. " I shall 



122 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [^^l'^- 

eat my Christmas dinner in New Orleans," said Admiral 
Cochrane on the day of the landing. The remark was re- 
ported by a prisoner to Greneral Jackson, who said, " Perhaps 
BO ; but I shall have the honor of presiding at that dinner." 
As usual, when affairs go wrong, the General in command 
was the scapegoat. By every camp-fire, in every hut, at every 
outpost the conduct of General Keane was severely criticized. 

" Why, Wilky," asked an officer, who arrived some days 
after the landing of the British advance — " why, Wilky, how 
is it that you have not provided us with good quarters in New 

Orleans, as we expected ,^ Why, what the cl 1 have you 

been about .?" 

" At this question," says Captain Cooke, who tells the 
story, " Wilkinson looked exceedingly vexed, and, clapping 
his hands to his forehead, and coloring up deeply, he turned 
away, stamping his foot, according to his usual custom when 
put out, and giving his arm a peculiar swing, answered, 

" ' Oh ! say no more about it.' 

" And then placing his arm within mine, we paced up and 
down for a long time, when he opened such a budget of as- 
tounding information, concerning the hesitation shown for the 
previous days, as to make the very military blood curdle in 
one's veins. And, on being further questioned by myself, as 
to the great stoppage, answered — 

" ' Bullets stopped us — bullets — that's all !' 

" But declared that the lines in front were now grown 
formidable, and that the only chance of taking them was by 
a well-concerted and simultaneous rush, when, should the 
ditch prove too deep in front of these lines, short-planked 
ladders would be the only means to cross it, by raising them 
on end, and letting them drop across the ditch, and then for 
the assailants to run over them," 

Such was the feeling of the British army, and such will 
ever be the feeling of an army that is " stopped" in its career 
of expected triumph by any cause whatever. 

Though this was the habitual feeling of the British 
troops from the night of the twenty-third until the end, 



1814.] AN EARNEST CHRISTMAS. 123 

yet an event on this Christmas morning occurred which, foi' 
the time, dispelled the prevailing gloom. This was the 
sudden arrival iu camp, to take the command of the troops, 
of Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, and with him, as 
second in command, Major General Samuel Gibbs ; besides 
several staff officers of experience and distinction. In a mo- 
ment hojje revived and animation reappeared. General Pak- 
enham, the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, a 
favorite of the Duke and of the army, was of North of Ire- 
land extraction, like the antagonist with whom he had come 
to contend. Few soldiers of the Peninsular war had won such 
high and rapid distinction as he. At Salamanca, at Badajoz, 
wherever, in fact, the fighting had been fiercest, there had 
tliis brave soldier done a man's part for his country, often 
foremost among the foremost. He was now but thirty-eight 
years of age, and the record of his bright career was written 
all over his body in honorable scars. Conspicuous equally for 
his humanity and for his courage, he had ever lifted his voice 
and his arm against those monstrous scenes of pillage and 
outrage which disgraced the British name at the capture of 
the strongholds of Spain ; hanging a man upon one occasion 
upon the spot, without trial or law, and thus, according to 
Napier, " nipping the wickedness in the bud." 

Surely this young captain, whose name is associated with 
victory, will speedily relieve his troops from their uncomfort- 
ahle position. Like so many other British soldiers, his ruling 
idea of warfare was to close with your enemy at the first 
moment possible, and achieve everything by that "simul- 
taneous rush" of which the irate Wilkinson spoke. 

The British service seems to develop every high and noble 
quality of man and soldier, except generalship. Up to the 
hour when the British soldier holds an independent com- 
mand he is the most assured and competent of men. Give 
him a plain, unconditional order — Go and do that — and he 
will go and do it with a cool, self-forgetting pertinacity of 
daring that can scarcely be too much admired. All of the 
man below the eye-brows is perfect. The stout heart, the 



124 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

high purpose, the dexterous hand, the enduring frame, are 
his. But the work of a general in command demands head 
— a cool, calculating head, fertile in expedients ; a head that 
is the controlling power of the man. And this article of 
head, which is the rarest production of nature everywhere, is 
one which the brave British soldier is apt to be signally want- 
ing in ; and never so much so as when responsibility rests 
upon him. To such men as Andrew Jackson responsibility 
is inspii'ation ; to others it is paralysis. 

General Pakenham inherited General Keane's erroneous 
information respecting Jackson's strength. Keej)ing this 
fact in view, his first measure seems judicious enough. Let 
us quote the Subaltern's account of Christmas day in the 
British camp : — 

" Hoping every thing from a change of leaders," says the 
Subaltern, " the troops greeted their new leader with a hearty 
cheer ; whilst the confidence which past events had tended 
in some degree to dispel returned once more to the bosoms_ 
of all. It was Christmas day, and a number of officers, club- 
bing their little stock of provisions, resolved to dine together 
in memory of former times. But at so melancholy a Christ- 
mas dinner I do not recollect at any time to have been pres- 
ent. We dined in a barn ; of plates, knives and forks, there 
was a dismal scarcity, nor could our fare boast of much 
either in intrinsic good quality or in the way of cooking. 
These, however, were mere nmtters of merriment : it was the 
want of many well-known and beloved faces that gave us 
pain ; nor were any other subjects discussed besides the ami- 
able qualities of those who no longer formed part of our mess, 
and never would again form part of it. A few guesses as to 
the probable success of future attempts alone relieved this 
topic, and now and then a shot from the schooner drew our 
attention to ourselves ; for though too far removed from the 
river to be in much danger, we were still within cannon-shot 
of our enemy. Nor was she inactive in her attempts to mo- 
lest. Elevating her guns to a great degree, she contrived 
occasionally to strike the wall of the building within which 



1814.] AN EARNEST CHRISTMAS. 125 

we sat ; but the force of the hall was too far spent to pene- 
trate, and could therefore produce no serious alarm. 

" Whilst we were thus sitting at table, a loud shriek was 
heard after one of these explosions, and on running out we 
found that a shot had taken effect in the body of an unfortu- 
nate soldier. I mention this incident, because I never beheld 
in any human being so great a tenacity of life. Though 
fairly cut in two at the lower part of the belly, the poor 
wretch lived for nearly an hour, gasping for breath, and giv- 
ing signs even of pain. 

" But to return to my narrative : as soon as he reached 
the camp, Sir Edward proceeded to examine, with a soldier's 
eye, every point and place within view. Of the American 
army nothing whatever could be perceived except a corps of 
observation, composed of five or six hundred mounted rifle- 
men, which hovered along our front and watched our mo- 
tions. The town itself was completely hid, nor was it pos- 
sible to see beyond the distance of a very few miles, either in 
front or rear, so flat and unbroken was the face of the coun- 
try. Under these circumstances, little insight into the state 
of affairs could be obtained by reconnoitering. The only 
thing, indeed, which we could learn from it was, that while 
the vessels kept their present station upon the liver no ad- 
vance could be made ; and, as he felt that every moment's 
delay was injurious to us, and favorable to the enemy, he re- 
solved to remove these incumbrances, and to push forward as 
soon as possible." 

To blow the Carolina out of the water, then, is General 
Pakenham's first resolve. Till that is done he thinks no 
movement of the troops is possible. With incredible toil, 
nine . field pieces, two howitzers, one mortar, a furnace for 
heating balls, and a supply of the requisite implements and 
ammurition, were brought from the fleet and dragged to the 
British camp. By the evening of the 26th they have all ar- 
rived, and are ready to be placed in position on the levee as 
soon as darkness covers the scene of operations and silences 
the Carolina's exasperating fire. The little schooner lay near 



126 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

the opposite shore of the river, just where she had dropped 
her anchor after swinging away from the scene of the night 
action of the 23d. There she had remained immovahle ever 
since, firing at the enemy as often as he showed himself A 
succession of northerly winds and dead calms rendered it im- 
possible for Captain. Henly to execute his purpose of getting 
nearer the British position, nor could he move the vessel 
higher up against the strong current of the swollen Mis- 
sissipi^i. In a word, the Carolina was a fixture, a floating 
battery. 

What is very remarkable, considering the great annoyance 
caused by the fire of this schooner, she had but one gun, a 
long twelve, as Captain Henly reports, which could throw a 
ball across the river ! 

A considerable number of slaves found their way on this 
Christmas day to the British camp. Captain Hill tells us 
something about these fugitives, who afterwards gave so much 
diplomatic trouble : "Every thing," he says, "appeared much 
in the same state at headquarters as when I had quitted it the 
past morning, with the exception that numerous slaves be- 
longing to the estate had returned to it, and many of them 
were busily employed under the direction of the commissaries. 
These negroes were all attired in a strange looking and rudely 
fashioned dress ; it was composed of a coaree French blanket, 
or horse-cloth, with loose sleeves and a hood ; their shoes 
were made of bullock's hide undressed, with the hair on the 
outside, serving to display the extraordinary and ill-shaped 
feet which characterize an African. 

" While sauntering round the plantation, awaiting with 
all due patience the moment which was to deprive me of my 
present appointment, I was accosted by a young negro, of 
great intelligence of feature, who, in very excellent French, 
implored me to order a collar of spikes with which his neck 
was encompassed to be taken off. To my inquiries as to the 
reason of its being placed on him, he replied that as soon as 
he heard of the landing of the English he had endeavored to 
leave his master at New Orleans, intending to join us ; his 



AN EARJJEST CHRISTMAS. 127 

purpose was discovered, and his attempt punished by the 
collar being fastened round his neck ; he had, however, fled 
to the wood, and made his way, with considerable difficulty, 
to the camp. He also explained, in piteous tones, that he 
had not been able to lie down since his flight, the collar being 
so contrived as to prevent the wearer from using any other 
than an upright position. 

" This ingenious symbol of a land of liberty I took im- 
mediate measures to have removed at our farrier's forge ; and 
no sooner was the poor devil released from it than he threw 
himself upon the earth, and placed one of my feet upon his 
head, which instantly reminded me of the first meeting be- 
tween those dear friends of my youth, Crusoe and Friday. 
Lifting the boy from the ground, I asked him if he were dis- 
posed to work, pointing out his brethren following the orders 
of the civil officers ; he replied that he should much like to 
serve me if I would engage him ; that he had been accus- 
tomed to the care of horses ; could speak French, Spanish, 
besides a little English ; would be faithful and honest, wish- 
ing for no other reward but meat and drink, and implying 
that a slight refection at the present moment would be par- 
ticularly acceptable. Taking time to deliberate whether or not 
I could give the lad employment, I consigned him to the care 
of my servant, who, having drawn my rations, was enabled to 
ofler his sable friend a substantial meal." 

The headquarters of General Jackson were now at a man- 
sion-house about two hundred yards behind the American 
lines. From an upper window of this house, above the trees 
in which it was embosomed, the General surveyed the scene 
below ; the long line of men at work upon the entrenchments ; 
Hinds' dragoons maneuvring and gallopping to and fro be- 
tween the two armies ; the Carolina and Louisiana in the 
stream vomiting their iron thunder upon the foe. With 
the aid of an old telescope, lent him by an aged Frenchman, 
which appears to have been almost the only instrument of the 
kind procurable in the place, he scanned the British position 
anxiously and often. He was surprised, puzzled, and, perhaps, 



128 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

a little alarmed at the enemy's prolonged inactivity'. What 
could they be doing down there behind the plantation houses ? 
Why should they, unless they had some deep scientific scheme 
on foot, quite beyond the penetration of a backwoodsman, al- 
low him to go on strengthening his position, day after day, 
without the slightest attempt at molestation ? It was not in 
the nature of Andrew Jackson to wait long for an enemy to 
attack. Too prudent to trust his raw troops in an open fight 
with an army twice his number, it occuiTcd to him, on the 
afternoon of the 26'th, that there might be another and a 
safer way to dislodge them from their covert ; at least, to dis- 
turb them in the development of whatever scheme they might 
be so quietly concocting. He sent for Commodore Patterson. 
Upon the arrival of the commodore at headquarters a short 
conference took place between the naval and the military 
hero. Then the gallant commodore hurries off to New Or- 
leans. His object is to ascertain whether a few of the mer- 
chant vessels lying idle at the levee can not be instantly 
manned, and armed each with two thirty-two pounders from 
the navy yard ; and if they can, to set them floating down 
toward the British position ; where, dropping anchor, they 
shall join in the cannonade, and sweep the plain from side to 
side with huge, resistless balls. No plantation houses, no 
negro huts, no shallow ditches, no attainable distance will 
then avail the invading host. 

Commodore Patterson could not succeed in his errand in 
time. But he bore in mind the General's hint, and, in due 
time, acted upon it in another way with most telling effect, 
as shall shortly be shown. 

There was generalship in Jackson's idea. If it could have 
been carried out that night the enemy's position would have 
been utterly untenable. With the dawn of the 27th, instead 
of doing what they did, they must have either advanced upon 
the lines and taken New Orleans or beaten a swift retreat to 
their shipping. Captain Cooke, in his involved, half-comic 
manner, remarks : " General Jackson throughout the oper- 
ations displayed the art of the engineer, combining at the 



1814.] AN EAENEST CHRISTMAS. 129 

same time the talent of the wary politician, and the polish of 
the finished negotiator, and wielding the weapons of war with 
vigorous decision, and with his pen finally transmogrifying 
an after defeat to his own advantage. He had amused the 
British generals for the space of four days and nights with 
a blustering fire from the sloop, he had turned every moment 
to his own account, brought up cannon to the barricades, and 
caused planking to be laid down for heavy artillery behind 
the ditch. And although the profile of the crescent battery, 
and the long line of naked barricade, and its rough exterior 
face, was not chiseled by the mason, and might have been 
laughed at by a Vauban, yet the sight of its smoking face 
caused the British general to halt." 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE LAST OF THE CAROLINA. 

It was all over with the glorious little vessel. At dawn 
of day, on the 27th, the American troops were startled by the 
report of a larger piece of ordnance than they had yet heard 
from the enemy's camp. The second shot from the great guna 
placed by the British on the levee during the night, white 
hot, struck the Carolina, pierced her side, and lodged in the 
main hold under a mass of cables, where it could neither be 
reached nor quenched. And this was but the prelude to a 
furious cannonade, which sent the bombs and hot balls hiss- 
ing and roaring about her, penetrating her cabin, knocking 
away her bulwarks, bringing down rigging and spars about 
the ears of the astonished crew. Captain Henly replied as 
best he could with his single long-twelve ; while both armies 
lined and thronged the levee, watching the unequal combat 
with breathless interest. 

No : not breathless. As often as the schooner was hit 
VOL. u. — 9 



130 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

clieers fi'om the British troops rent the morning air ; and 
whenever a weU-aimed shot from the Carolina drove the .Brit- 
ish gunners for a moment under the shelter of the levee, 
shouts from the Americans applauded the devoted crew. Gen- 
eral Jackson w\as at his high window sj^ying the comhat. 
Perceiving from the first how it must end, he sent an em- 
phatic order to Lieutenant Thompson, of the Louisiana, to 
get that vessel out of range if it was in the power of man to 
do it. General Pakenham stood on the levee near his guns 
cheering on the artillerymen. 

Half-an-hour of this work was enough for the Carolina. 
" Finding," says Captain Henly, in his report to Commodore 
Patterson, with the blunt pathos of a sailor mourning for the 
loss of his vessel, " that hot shot were passing through her 
cabin and filling-room, which contained a considerable quan- 
tity of powder, her bulwarks all knocked down by the 
enemy's shot, the vessel in a sinking condition, and the fire in- 
creasing, and expecting every moment that she would blow up, 
at a little after sunrise I reluctantly gave orders for the crew 
to abandon her, which was effected Avith tlie loss of one man 
killed and six wounded. A short time after I had succeeded 
in getting the crew on shore, I had the extreme mortification 
of seeing her blow up. It afibrds me great pleasure to ac- 
knowledge the able assistance I received from Lieutenants 
Norris and Crawley and sailing-master Haller, and to say 
that my officers and crew behaved on this occasion, as well as 
on the 23d, when under your own eye, in a most gallant man- 
ner. Almost every article of clothing belonging to the officers 
and crew, from the rapid progress of the fire, was involved 
in the destruMion of the vessel." 

The explosion was terrific. It shook the earth for miles 
around ; it threw a shower of burning fragments over the 
Louisiana, a mile distant ; it sent a shock of terror to thou- 
sands of listening women in New Orleans ; it gave a moment- 
ary discouragement to the American troops. The English 
army, whom the schooner's fire had tormented for four days, 
raised a shout of exultation, as thougli the silencing of that 



1814.] THE LAST OF THE CAROLINA. 131 

single gun had removed the only obstacle to their victorious 
advance. Captain Hill tells us that " among the crowd of 
spectators collected to witness the attack on the schooner were 
the Indian chiefs, who appeared deeply interested in the pro- 
ceedings ; and no sooner was the destruction effected than the 
prophet, in a fit of inspiration, commenced a palaver with his 
CO intrymen, foretelling the complete success of our pale faces 
on the following day ; this was soon made known to us by 
Colonel Nicholls, who endeavored to impress upon us that we 
might depend on the predictions of this gifted seer." 

But the Louisiana was still above water, and apparently 
as immovable as the Carolina had been. Upon her the Brit- 
ish guns were immediately turned. To avail himself of a 
light breeze, or intimation of a breeze, from the east, Lieute- 
nant Thompson has spread all his sails. But against that 
steady, strong, deep current it availed not even to slacken the 
ship's cable. Eed hot balls fell hissing into the water about 
her, and a shell burst upon her deck, wounding six of the 
crew, " Man the boats," thundered the commander. A hun- 
dred men were soon tugging at the oars, struggling, as for 
more than life, to tow the ship up the stream. She moved ; 
the cable slackened and was let go ; still she moved slowly, 
steadily, and, ere long, was safe out of the deadly tempest, 
at anchor under the western shore, opposite the American 
lines. 

Then it was our turn to lift the exulting shout, and cheer 
upon cheer saluted the rescued ship. The English soldiers 
heard the cheers as they were " falling in," three miles below. 
Every trace of discouragement was gone from both armies. 
The British now formed upon the open plain, without let or 
hindrance. The Americans could coolly estimate the success 
of the cannonade at its proper value. They had lost just one 
available gun, and saved a ship which, at one broadside, could 
throw eight twelve-pound balls a mile and a half. That was 
the net result of a cannonade for which the British army had 
toiled and waited a day and two nights. 

If the EngUsh had directed their fire first upon the Louis- 



132 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1814. 

iana, they could have destroyed both vessels. How aston- 
ishing that any man, standing where General Pakenham 
stood that morning, could have failed to perceive a fact so 
obvious ? The Louisiana had only to go a mile up the river 
to be out of danger. Half a mile made her comparatively 
safe. The Carolina was fully two miles below the point of 
safety. The half hour expended upon the schooner would 
have blown up. the ship, and then at their leisure, they could 
have played upon the smaller vessel. And even if Captain 
Henly had slii)ped his cable and dropped down the stream past 
the British camp, the vessel would have been as effectually 
removed as she was when her burning fragments floated by. 

The twenty-seventh was a busy day in the American lines. 
They were still far from complete, and every man now felt 
that their strength would soon be j)ut to the test. In the 
course of the day a twelve-pound howitzer was placed in 
position, so as to command the high road. In the evening a 
twenty-four was established further to the left, and early 
next morning another twenty-four. The crew of the Caro- 
lina hurried round to the lines to assist in serving these 
guns ; and on the morrow the Barratarians were coming 
down from Fort St. Johns to lend a powerful hand. The 
two regiments of Louisiana militia were added to the force 
behind the lines. All day long the shovel and the spade are 
vigorously plied ; the embankment rises ; the canal deepens. 
The lines nearest the river are strongest and best protected, 
and, besides, are concealed from the view of an apj^roaching 
foe by the buildings of the Chalmette jilantation, a quarter of 
mile below them. These buildings, which have served hitherto 
as the quarters of Hinds' dragoons, will protect the enemy 
more than they protect us, thinks the General, and orders 
them to be fired when the enemy advances. It was a mis- 
take, and the order, luckily, was only executed in part. Far 
to the left, near the cypress swamp, the lines are weakest, 
though there Coffee's Tennesseans had worked as only Cof- 
fee's Tennesseans could work, to make tliem strong. But 
there is a limit to the powers of even such stalwart and in- 



1814.] THE LAST OF THE CAROLINA. 133 

domitable heroes as these, and there may be trouble to-morrow 
at the extreme left. 

How it fared with the English trooj^s that day, and dur- 
ing the night that followed, the graphic and modest Subaltern 
shall relate : — 

" Having thus removed all apparent obstacles to his future progress, the 
general made dispositions for a speedy advance. Dividing the army into two 
columns, he appointed General Gribbs to the command of one, and General 
Keane to the command of the other.' The left column, led on by the latter 
officer, consisted of the ninety-fifth, the eighty-fifth, the ninety-third, and 
one black corps; the right, of the fourth, twenty-first, forty-fourth, and 
the other black corps. The artillery, of which we had now ten pieces in 
the field, though at present attached to the last column, was designed to act 
as circumstances and the nature of the ground would permit ; while the 
dragoons, few of whom had as yet provided themselves with horses, were 
appointed to guard the hospitals, and to secure the wounded from any sud- 
den surprise or molestation from the rear. 

" But the day was too far spent in making these arrangements, and in 
clearing the way for future operations, to permit any movement before the 
morrow. The whole of the 27th was therefore spent in bringing up stores, 
ammunition, and a few heavy guns from the ships, which, being placed in 
battery upon the banks of the river, secured us against the return of our 
floating adversary. All this was done quietly enough, nor was there any 
cause of alarm till after sunset ; but from that time till towards dawn, we 
were kept in a constant state of anxiety and agitation. Sending down 
small bodies of riflemen, the American General harrassed our pickets, killed 
and wounded a few of the sentinels, and prevented the main body from 
obtaining any sound or refreshing sleep. Scarcely had the troops lain down, 
when they were roused by a sharp firing at the outposts, which lasted only 
till they were in order, and then ceased ; but as soon as they had dispersed, 
and had once more addressed themselves to repose, the same cause of alarm 
returned, and they were again called to their ranks. Thus was the entire 
night spent in watching, or at best in broken and disturbed slumbers, 
than which nothing is more trying, both to the health and spirits of ai; 
army. 

" With the pickets, again, it fared even worse. For the outposts of an 
army to sleep is at all times considered as a thing impossible ; but in mod- 
ern and civilized warfare they are nevertheless looked upon as, in some 
degree, sacred. Thus, while two European armies remain inactively facing 
each other, the out^posts of neither are molested, unless a direct attack 
upon the main body be intended ; nay, so far is this tacit good understand* 



134 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

lug carried, that I have myself seen Freuch and English sentinels not more 
than twenty yards apart. But the Americans entertained no such chivalric 
notions. An enemy was to them an enemy, whether alone or in the 
midst of five thousand companions ; and they therefore counted the death 
of every individual as so much taken from the strength of the whole. In 
point of fact, they no doubt reasoned correctly, but to us at least it appeared 
an ungenerous return to barbarity. Whenever they could approach unper- 
ceived within proper distance of our watch fires, six or eight riflemen would 
fire amongst the party that sat round them, while one or two, stealing as 
close to each sentinel as a regard to their own safety would permit, acted 
the part of assassins rather than that of soldiers, and attempted to murder 
them in cold blood. For the officers, hkewise, when going their rounds, 
they constantly lay in wait, and thus, by a continued dropping fire, they 
not only wounded some of those against whom their aim was directed, 
but occasioned considerable anxiety and uneasiness throughout the whole 
line. 

" It was on this night, and under these circumstances, that I was in- 
debted to the vigilance of my faithful dog for my life. Amid all the bustle 
of laniiing, and throughout the tumult of the nocturnal battle, she never 
strayed from me ; at least, if she did lose me for a time, she failed not to 
trace me out again as soon as order was restored ; for I found her by my 
side when the dawn of the 24th came in, and I never lost sight of her 
afterwards. It was my fortune, on the night of the 26th, to be put in 
charge of an outpost on the left front of the army j on such occasions I sel- 
dom experienced the slightest inclination to- sleep; and on the present I 
made it a point to visit my sentinels at least once in every half hour. 
Going my rounds for this pm-pose, it was necessary that I should pass a 
little copse of low underwood, just outside of the hne of our videttes ; and 
I did pass it again and again without meeting with any adventure. But 
about an hour after midnight, my dog, which, as usual, trotted a few paces 
before me, suddenly stopped sliort at the edge of the thicket, and began to 
bark violently, and in great apparent anger. I knew the animal well 
enough to be aware that some cause must exist for such conduct ; and I, 
too, stopped short, till I should ascertain whether danger was near. It 
was well for me that I had been thus warned ; for at the instant of my 
halting about half a dozen muskets were discharged from the copse, the 
muzzles of which, had I taken five steps forward, must have touched my 
body. The balls whizzed harmlessly past my head ; and, on my returning 
the fire with the pistol which I carried in my hand, the ambuscade broke 
up, and the party composing it took to their heels. I was Quixote enough 
to dash sword in hand into the thicket after them, but no one waited for 
me, so I continued my perambulations in peace. 

" Having continued this detestable system of warfare till towards mom- 



1814.] EECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 135 

ing, the enemy retired, and left ns at rest. But as soon as day began to 
break our pickets were called in, and tlie troops formed in order of attack. 
The right column, under General Gibbs, took post near the skirts of the 
morass, throwing out skirmishers half way across the plain, whilst the left 
column drew up upon the road covered by the rifle corps, wliich, in ex- 
tended order, met the skirmishers from the other. With tliis last divisica 
went the artillery, already well supplied with horses ; and, at the signal 
^ven, the whole moved forward." 



CHAPTER XII. 

GENEKAL PAKENHAM MAKES A GRAND RECONNOISSANCE. 

The morning of the 28th of December was one of those 
perfect mornings of the southern winter, to enjoy which it is 
almost wortli while to live twenty degrees too near the tropic 
of Cancer. Balmy, yet bracing ; brilliant, but soft ; inviting 
to action, though rendering mere existence bliss. The golden 
mist that heralded the sun soon wreathed itself away and van- 
ished into space, except that part of it which hung in glitter- 
ing diamonds upon the herbage and the evergreens that encir- 
cled the stubbled-covered plain. The monarch of the day shone 
out with that brightness that neither dazzles nor consumes, 
but is beautiful and cheering merely. Gone and forgotten 
were now the lowering clouds, the penetrating fogs, the dis- 
heartening rains, that for so many days and dreary fearful 
nights had hung over the dark Delta. The river was flow- 
ing gold. " The trees," we are told,* " were melodious with 
the noisy strains of the rice-bird, and the hold falsetto of that 
pride of southern ornithology, the mocking-bird, who, here 
alone, continues the whole year round his unceasing notes of 
exultant mockery and vocal defiance." 

It was one of Homer's mornings, or Boccaccio's, or Tas- 
Bo's, or Shakespeare's ; who all so loved the dawning day, and 

* Jackson and New Orleans, p. 224. 



136 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

wrote of it with its own diamond-drops and sunbeams, and 
let the morning air blow over the page, which it still exhales, 

Fly away, noisy rice-bird, and defiant mocking-bird. 
Music more noisy and more defiant than yom's salutes the 
rising sun ; the rolling drum and ringing bugle, namely, that 
call tv.-elve thousand hostile men to arms. This glorious 
morning General Pakenham is resolved to have, at least, 
one good look at the wary and active foe that for five days 
hcLS given pause to the invading army, and has not yet been 
so much as seen by them. With his whole force he will march 
boldly up to the lines, and, if fortune favors, and the prospect 
pleases, he will leap over them into New Orleans and the 
House of Lords. A grand rcconnoissance is the order of the day. 

The American general has not used his telescoj)e in vain ; 
he is perfectly aware that an early advance is intended. Five 
pieces of cannon he has in position. The crew of the Caro- 
lina, under Lieutenant Crawley and Lieutenant Norris, Cap- 
tain Humphrey and his artillerymen, are ready to serve them. 
Before the sun was an hour on his diurnal way, " Jackson's 
anxious glances toward the city had been changed into ex- 
pressions of satisfaction and confidence by the spectacle of 
several straggling bands of red-shirted, bewiskered, rough and 
desperate-looking men, all begrimmed with smoke and mud, 
hurrying down the road toward the lines. These proved to 
be the BaiTatarians under Dominique You and Bluche, who 
had run all the way from the Fort St. John, where they had 
been stationed since their release from prison. They immedi- 
ately took charge of one of the twenty -four pounders." * And, 
what is of far more importance, the Louisiana, saved yester- 
day by the resolution and skill of Lieutenant Thompson, is 
ready, at a moment's warning, to let out cable and swing 
round, so as to throw her balls obliquely across the plain. 

And all this is hidden from the foe, who will know noth- 
ing of what awaits them till they have passed the plantation 
houses of Chalmette and Bienvenu, only five hundred yards 
from the lines ! 

* Jackson arid New Orleans, page 226. 



1814.] RECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 137 

General Jackson was not kept long in suspense. The 
spectacle of the British advance was splendid in the extreme. 
" Forward they came," says the author of Jackson and New 
Orleans, " in solid columns, as compact and orderly as if on 
parade, under cover of a shower of rockets, and a continual fire 
from their artillery in front and their Latteries on the levee. 
It was certainly a bold and imposing demonstration, for such, 
as we are told by British officers, it was intended to be. To 
new soldiers, like the Americans, fresh from civic and peace- 
ful pursuits, who had never witnessed any scenes of real war- 
fare, it was certainly a formidable display of military power 
and discipline. Those veterans moved as steadily and closely 
together as if marching in review instead of ' in the cannon's 
mouth.' Their muskets catching the rays of the morning 
sun, nearly blinded the beholder with their brightness, whilst 
their gay and various uniforms, red, grey, green and tartan, 
afibrded a pleasing relief to the winter-clad field and the som- 
ber objects around." 

Thus appeared the British host to the gazing multitude 
behind the American lines ; for the author of the passage 
quoted learned his story from the lips of men who saw the 
dazzling sight. The Subaltern tells us how the American 
lines looked to the advancing army, and what reception 
greeted it. 

" The enemy's corps of observation (Hinds' dragoons) fell back as we 
advanced, without offering in any way to impede our progress, and it was 
impossible to guess, ignorant as we were of the position of the enemy's 
main body, at what moment opposition might be expected. Nor, in truth, 
was it a matter of mucli anxiety. Our spirits, in spite of the troubles of 
the night, were good, and our expectations of success were high ; conse- 
quently, many rude jests were bandied about, and many careless worda 
spoken ; for soldiers are, of all classes of men, the fi-eest from care, and on 
that account, perhaps, the most happy. By being continually exposed to 
it, danger with them ceases to be frightful ; of death they have no more 
terror than the l)easts that perish ; and even hardships, such as cold, wet, 
hunger, and broken rest, lose at least part of their disagreeableness by the 
frequency of their recurrence. 

" Moving on in this merry mood, we advanced about four or five miles 



138 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

without the smallest check or hindrance, when, at length, we found our- 
selves in view of the enemy's army, posted in a very advantageous man- 
ner. About forty yards in their front was a canal, which extended from 
the morass to within a short distance of the high road. Along their line 
were thrown up breastworks, not indeed completed, but even now formid- 
able. Upon the road, and at several other points, were erected powerful 
batteries, whilst the ship, with a large flotilla of gun-boats, [no, sir — no 
gun-boats,] flanked the whole position from the river. 

" When I say that we came in sight of the enemy, I do not mean that 
he was gradually exposed to us in such a manner as to leave time for cool 
examination and reflection. On the right, indeed, he was seen for some 
time ; but on the left a few houses built at a turning in the road entirely 
entirely concealed hlii ; nor was it till they had gained that turning, and 
beheld the muzzles of his guns pointed towards them, that those who moved 
in this direction were aware of tlioir proximity to danger. But that danger 
was indeed near they were quickly taught ; for scarcely had the head of 
the column passed the houses, when a deadly fire was opened from both 
the battery and the shipping. That the Americans are excellent marks- 
men, as well with ai-tillery as with rifles, we have had frequent cause to 
acknowledge ; but, perhaps, on no occasion did they assert their claim to 
the title of good artillerymen more effectually than on the present. Scarce 
a ball passed over, or fell short of its mark, but all striking full into the midst 
of our ranks occasioned terrible havoc. The shrieks of the wounded, there- 
fore, the crash of firelocks, and the fall of such as were killed, caused at first 
some little confusion; and what added to the panic was, that from the 
houses beside which we stood bright flames suddenly burst out. The 
Americans, expecting this attack, had filled them with combustibles for the 
purpose, and, directing against them one or two guns, loaded with red- hot 
shot, in an instant set them on fire. The scene was altogether very sub- 
hme. A tremendous cannonade mowed down our ranks and deafened us 
with its roar, whilst two largo chateaux and their out-buildings almost 
scorched us with the flames and blinded us with the smoke which they 
emitte-d. 

" The infantry, however, was not long suffered to remain thus exposed, 
but, being ordered to quit the path, and to form fine in the fields, the artil- 
lery was brought up and opposed to that of the enemy. But the contest 
was in every respect unequal, since their artillery far exceeded ours, both 
in numerical strength and weight of metal. The consequence was that in 
half an hour two of our field-i^ieces and one field-mortar were dismounted; 
many of the gunners were killed; and the rest, after an ineffectual attempt 
to silence the fire of the shipping, were obliged to retire. 

" In the meantime the infantry, having formed line, advanced under a 
heavy discharge of round and grape-shot, tUl they were checked by the 



1814.] RECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 139 

appearance of the canal. Of its depth they were of course ignorant, and 
to attempt its passage without having ascertained whether it could be 
forded, might have been productive of fatal consequences. A halt was 
according]}^ ordered, and the men were commanded to shelter themselves 
as well as they could from the enemy's fire. For this purpose they were 
nurried into a wet ditch, of sufficient depth to cover the knees, where, 
leaning forward, they concealed themselves behind some high rushes which 
grew upon its brink, and thus escaped many bullets which fell around them 
in all directions. 

" Thus fared it with the left of the army, whilst the right, though less 
exjDosed to the cannonade, was not more successful in its object. The 
same impediment which checked one column forced the other likewise to 
pause, and, after having driven in an advanced body of the enemy, and 
endeavored without effect to penetrate through the marsh, it also was com- 
manded to halt. In a word, all thought of attacking was for this day aban- 
doned, and it now only remained to withdraw the troops from their present 
perilous situation with as little loss as possible. 

" The first thing to be done was to remove the dismounted guns. Upon 
this enterprise a party of seamen was employed, who, running forward to 
the spot where they lay, lifted them, in spite of the whole of the enemy's 
fire, and bore them off in triumph. As soon as this was effected regiment 
after regiment stole away ; not in a body, but one by one, under the same 
discharge which saluted theii; approacli. But a retreat thus conducted ne- . 
cessarily occupied much time. Noon had therefore long passed before the 
last corps was brought off, and when we again began to muster twilight 
was approaching." 

Our lively friend Hill adds a few curious and interesting 
particulars : " The unfortunate blacks forming the West India 
regiments suffered most dreadfully from the change of climate 
and alteration of fare ; they were positively not only useless, 
but absolutely in the way. Several of these poor devils were 
observed huddled together, and exposed to fire ; they were de- 
sired to get under cover, to which they replied, 

" ' No, tank you, massa, rader stay here and get killed at 
once ; never see de day go back to Jamaica, so me die now, 
tank you. No stand dem d — n cold and fog — no house to 
lib in — not warm clothes, so poor nigger him die like 
dog.' 

" There was too much truth in these words : it was an 
absolute cruelty to bring them on such a service, and 



140 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

evinced little judgment on the part of the adviser of such a 
measure. 

" The troops were ordered to retain the line they now oc- 
cupied, and no further demonstration of advance was made. 
Close to the left of our line stood the house and plantation 
of Monsieur Bienvenu. It was an elegant mansion ; much 
of the furniture had been removed^ but enough remained to 
mark the taste of the proprietor. In the hall, which was 
floored with variegated marble, stood two magnificent globes 
and a splendid oiTery. One room contained a vast collection 
of valuable books. On entering a bed-room, lately occupied 
by a female of the family, as was apparent by the arrangement 
of toilet, etc., I found that our advance had interruj)ted the 
fair one in her study of natural history, a volume of BufFon 
was lying open on her pillow ; and it was evident that her 
particular attention had been directed to the domestic econo- 
my of the baboon and monkey tribe, slips of paper marking 
the highly colored portraits of these charming subjects for a 
lady's contemplation. 

"In spite of our sanguine expectation of sleeping that 
night in New Orleans, evening found us occupying our negro 
hut at Villere's, nor was I sorry that the shades of night con- 
cealed our mortification from the prisoners and slaves. As 
for our allies, the Indians, they had not increased in number; 
the countless tribes promised by Colonel Nicholls had not yet 
appeared, the five or six red skins I have already named still 
hung about headquarters. The prophet, to avoid censure at 
the fallacy of his predictions, contrived to get gloriously drunk, 
nor was the king of the Muscogies in a much more sober state: 
his majesty had consoled himself for the ill-fortune of the day 
by going from hut to hut imploring rum and asserting that 
he ' hungered for drink.' " 

What a day for the heroes of the Peninsula and the stately 
ninety-third Highlanders ! — lying low in wet ditches., some 
of them' for seven hours, under that relentless cannonade, and 
then slinking away behind fences, huts, and burning houses, 
or even crawling along on the bottom of ditches, happy to get 



1814.] RECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 141 

beyond the reacli of those rebounding balls, that "knocked 
down the soldiers," says Captain Cooke, " and tossed them 
into the air like old bags." And what a day for General 
Jackson and his four thousand, M'ho saw the magnificent 
advance of the morning, not without misgivings, and then 
beheld the most splendid and imposing army they had ever 
seen sink, as it were, into the earth and vanish from their 
sight ! This reconnoissance cost General Pakenham a loss 
of fifty killed and wounded. The casualties on the American 
side were nine killed and eight wounded. 

The ship Louisiana was the immediate cause of this day's 
signal triumph.. Commodore Patterson gives a simple but 
interesting account in his dispatch to the Secretary of the 
Navy of what transj^ired on board : 

"At twenty-five minutes past eight a. m. the enemy opened their fire 
upon the ship, with shells, hot shot, and rockets, which was instantly re- 
turned with great spirit and much apparent effect, and continued without 
intermission till one p. m., when the enemy slackened their fire, and re- 
treated Avith a part of their artillery from each of their batteries, evidently 
with great loss. Two attempts were made to screen one heavy piece of 
ordnance mounted behind the levee, with which they threw hot shot at 
the ship, and which had been a long time abandoned before they succeeded 
in recovering it, and then it must have been with very great loss, as I dis- 
tinctly saw, with the aid of my glass, several shot strike in the midst of the 
men (seamen) who were employed dragging it away. At three p. m. the 
enemy were silenced ; at 4 p. m, ceased firing from the ship, the enemy 
having retired beyond the range of her guns. Many of their shot passed 
over the ship, and their sheils burst over her decks, which were strewed 
with their fragments ; yet, after an incessant cannonading of upwards of 
seven hours, during which time eight hundred shot were fired from the ship, 
one man only was wounded slightly by the piece of a shell, and one shot 
passed between the bowsprit and heel of the jib-boom. 

" The enemy drew up his whole force, evidently with an intention of 
assaulting General Jackson's Hues, under cover of his heavy cannon ; but 
his cannonading being so warmly returned from the lines and ship Louis- 
iana caused him, I presume, to abandon his project, as he retired without 
making the attempt. You will have learned by my former letters that the 
crew of the Louisiana is composed of men of all nations (English excepted), 
taken from the streets of New Orleans not a fortnight before the battle, yet 
I never knew guns better served, or a more animated fire, than was sup- 



142 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814 

ported from her. Lieutenant C. C. B. Thompson deserves great credit for 
the discipline to which in so short a time he had brought such men, two- 
thirds of whom do not understand Enghsh." 



At the extreme left of Jackson's lines, a mile away from 
the river, where the ditch could be leaped, and the embank- 
ment easily sm-mounted, there was a moment which, rightly 
improved, might have given a different issue to the day. 
Upon getting sight of this rude line of defense, Greneral Gibbs, 
instead of ordering the " simultaneous rush" which would 
have carried them, was obliged to remember that the affair 
was only a reconnoissance, and so halted his eager column. 
A detachment under Colonel Rennie advanced, however, drove 
in the American outposts, and drew up in a sheltered position 
one hundred yards from General Carroll's division. Carroll's 
men, clamoring for a share in the day's work, their general 
permitted Colonel Henderson to lead a column of two hun- 
dred Tennesseans along the borders of the swamp, with the 
design of getting to the rear of Ronnie's detachment and 
cutting it off. The attempt failed. A body of British troops 
concealed in the woods opened fire upon the column, killed 
Colonel Henderson and five of his men, wounded a few more, 
and compelled the rest to retreat behind the lines in confusion. 
At this moment, when Rennie, elated by the result, was ad- 
vancing on Carroll's division, and about to close with it, an 
imperative order from General Gibbs obliged him to retire. 
It is beyond question that a vigorous attack upon the left at 
that time would have given General Jackson more serious 
trouble than he had yet experienced during the campaign. 

It was in the midst of the confusion and alarm caused by 
the retreat of the Tennesseans and the threatened advance 
of Colonel Rennie that a circumstance occurred which greatly 
added to the prevailing excitement, and had a lasting effect 
upon the fame and peace of General Jackson. 

It was not to be expected, in any circumstances, that such 
a body of men as the Legislature of Louisiana would stand 
very high in the regard of such a man as Andrew Jackson, 



1814.1 BECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 143 

and the less since he derived his impressions of their character 
from men who were opposed to them politically and other- 
wise. To save New Orleans seems to have been the rnling 
desire of a majority of that body, whereas Jackson's first and 
great concern was to defeat and destroy the British expedi- 
tion, even though that should involve tlie total destruction of 
the city. 

" What did you design to do," Major Eaton once asked 
the General, " provided you had been forced to retreat ?" 

" I should have retreated to the city," replied Jackson, 
" fired it, and fought the enemy amidst the surrounding 
flames. There were with me men of wealth, owners of con- 
siderable property, who, in such an event, would have been 
among the foremost to have applied the torch to their own 
buildings, and what they had left undone I should have com- 
2:)leted. Nothing for the comfortable maintenance of the 
enemy would have been left in the rear. I would have de- 
stroyed New Orleans, occupied a position above on the river, 
cut off all supplies, and in this way compelled them to depart 
from the countiy." 

This being the temper of the General, he had given a 
somewhat rough welcome to a committee of the Legislature 
who had visited him a day or two before, to ask what course 
he intended to take in case he were compelled to retreat, 

" If," replied the General, " I thought the hair of my 
head could divine what I should do, forthwith I would cut it 
off ; go back with this answer : say to your honorable body, 
that if disaster does overtake me, and the fate of war drives 
me from my line to the city, they may expect to have a very 
warm session." 

Such an answer could not be satisfactory to the more 
conservative and timid members of the Legislature. Still it 
led to no action on their part, nor even remonstrance. Indeed 
there had been no session of the Legislature since the 23d, 
or, if any, only a meeting of a few members followed by im- 
mediate adjournment. In a conversation in a private house, 
where seven or eight members chanced to meet, the Speaker 



144 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

of the House openly said that, for his part, he thought the 
arriving of Gleneral Jackson a calamity. 

" He seems to me," added the Speaker, " to be a desper- 
ado, who will war like a savage, and bring destruction and 
fire on the city and its neighboring plantations.* 

In such exciting times as these rumor is busy enough ; 
nor at any time does she need a better foundation than this 
for the most extravagant and incredible tale. And so it hap- 
pened, that on this morning of thunder and alarm, one of Ku- 
mor's thousand tongues whispered it into the ear of a certain 
Creole, Colonel Declouet, that the Legislature loerc meditat- 
ing a scheme for surrendering the city to the enemy I Pale 
with excitement. Colonel Declouet rushed to the field, and 
there meeting Mr. Abner L. Duncan, a Philadelphian, who 
was one of the numerous corps of Jackson's volunteer aids, 
told him the dread news, and entreated him to lose not a mo- 
ment in informing General Jackson. 

" It can not be possible," exclaimed Duncan, aghast at the 
thought. 

Declouet solemnly repeated his statement ; declared that 
he would be personally answerable for its truth, and urged 
Duncan, for God's sake, to tell the General. Duncan then 
advised Colonel Declouet to go to the General himself, and 
offered to accompany him. 

" No," said Declouet ; " I will go to town, and inform 
Governor Claiborne. Do you go and tell the General." 

Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and rode away to- 
wards New Orleans, having imparted to Duncan all his own 
excitement and alarm. Duncan had already met, on his way 
from New Orleans, people hurrying from the camp to the city, 
with the news that the lines had been forced, and that the 
enemy were gaining the day. Distracted with the double 
apprehension of treason and defeat, he hastened to headquar- 
ters, before which he found Major Planche posted with his 
battalion of uniformed companies. Eunning up to the ma- 
jor, he asked with frantic eagerness — 

* General Jackson's Fine, Pamphlet, by Charles J. IngersoJl, p. 12. 



1814.] RECONNOISSANCE OF PAKENHAM. 145 

" Where is the General ?" 

Major Planche, alarmed at his manner, asked him what 
was the matter. To which Duncan replied, that he had just 
been told the Legislature were about to capitulate. 

" It is impossible," cried Planche, as he pointed out the 
General riding swiftly along the lines. 

Jackson was, in fact, just returning from ordering Gen- 
eral Coffee to strengthen the extreme left, where the disorder 
had occurred. As Duncan ran up, the General perceiving 
his agitation, and supposing he brought important news of 
the enemy's movements, reined in his horse, when the follow- 
ing conversation, as far as can be gathered from the various 
depositions, occurred between them : 

" What is the matter. Colonel Duncan ?" cried the Gen- 
eral. 

" I am the the bearer of a message from Governor Clai- 
borne," said Duncan, " to the effect that the Assembly are 
about to give up the country to the enemy." 

" Have you a letter from the Governor ?" inquired Jack- 
son, 

" No, General," replied Duncan. 

" Who gave you the intelligence ?" Jackson asked. 

" Colonel Declouet," was the reply. 

"Where is Colonel Declouet ?" asked the General. "He 
ought to be arrested, and if the information is not true he 
ought to be shot. I don't believe it." 

" Declouet is gone back to New Orleans," said Duncan. 
" He requested me to give you the information." 

Upon hearing this, the General loosened the reins, and 
was about to gallop on. Duncan called out to him, " The 
Governor expects your orders. General." 

Whereupon the General said, as he rode away, " I do n't 
believe the intelligence ; but tell the Governor to make strict 
inquiry into the subject, and if they persist, to blow them 
up." 

The soldiers standing near caught the last words, and the 
Ehont ran along the line — " Blow them up !" 

VOL, II. — 10 



146 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

The cannonade continued, and tlie General tliought no 
more of the Legislature until the retreat of the enemy gave 
him leisure for further reflection. He then wrote a hasty- 
note to the Governor^ directing him to observe closely the 
movements of the Legislature, and the moment any project of 
capitulation should be disclosed to place a guard at the door 
of their chamber. " My object in this," Jackson afterwards 
exj)lained to his ft lend Eaton, " was, that then they would 
be able to proceed with their business without producing the 
slightest injury ; whatever schemes they might entertain 
would have remained with themselves, without the power of 
circulating them to the prejudice of any other interest than 
their own. I had intended to have had them well treated 
and kindly dealt by ; and, thus abstracted from every thing 
passing without doors, a better opportunity would have been 
afforded them to enact good and wholesome laws." 

Governor Claiborne, however, misunderstanding General 
Jackson's communication, and, perhaps, not unwilling to si- 
lence a body that had not shown itself very complaisant to 
his wishes, placed a guard at the door of the chamber before 
the Legislature met ; and thus, instead of shutting them in, 
shut them out. The feelings of an august Legislature can be 
imagined, when, on approaching the door of their chamber, 
they found their entrance opposed by armed men, who, on 
being interrogated by them, gave rude and uncompromising 
replies. This was the beginning of General Jackson's long 
embroilment with the Legislature of Louisiana. Originating 
in the casual conversation of a group of members, magnified 
in the excited imagination of Colonel Declouet, misrepre- 
sented, in the bewilderment of the moment, by Mr. Duncan, 
niisunderstood by Governor Claiborne, the affair grew into 
importance, and had results, the last of which was not 
reached until General Jackson was on the brink of the grave. 

Leaving the Legislature bandying loud epithets with the 
imcivil guard, we return, for a moment, to the scene of con- 
flict. The exultation, the gay confidence of the American 
'oops at the close of this day, was beyond description. The 



1814.] KECONNOISSANCE OF TAKENHAM. 147 

enemy was feared no longer, and the rest of the campaign was 
but a kind of keen, exciting sport. I have a letter, written a 
day or two after by one of Colonel Hinds' troop of dragoons, 
who "begged a few moments from camp" for the purpose, 
which may serve to show the feeling of the army during the 
succeeding days. After giving a brief account of the action 
of the 23d, he thus proceeds : 

" Our squadron was not in action on the 23d, but were on the ground 
in the rear, but from the darkness of the night were unable to act. Our 
duty since then has been very hard, as we have not unsaddled our horses 
since, but lay at their feet every night on our arms and without fire. After 
the battle our squadron was stationed between the two armies as picket 
guards, and lay three days within four hundred yards of the enemy's chain 
of sentinels, and in the morning of the fourth day (December 28th) were 
compelled to retire to the main army, the enemy under cover of the night 
having erected batteries on the levee, and in the morning opened upon us, 
but did no execution except one horse killed, and as we retreated they fol- 
lowed and made three attempts to charge our breastworks, but were as 
often repulsed, and were again compelled to retire, with a loss of about one 
hundred and fifty killed. On our part, the number in killed and wounded 
did not exceed twenty. To-day we have been endeavoring to draw them 
out, but without success, for which purpose our noble commander. Major 
ilinds, drew his squadron within two hundred yards of their lines, which 
drew their fire pretty heavy, and wounded three men and two horses, all 
slightly. We were kept there for one hour and a half by our major, who put 
us through a number of evolutions in the face of the enemy, to the astonish- 
ment of all the army, and when we returned to camp were met by three 
cheers from the army, and General Jackson's compliments, presented to 
us through one of his staflf. Colonel Hayne, who said to us, * Gentlemen, 
your undaunted courage this day has excited the admiration of the whole 
army.' 

" It is said the enemy is about to retire, but that I very much doubt, 
as they are throwing up a very strong breastwork, about two and a half 
or three miles below us, on the canal by which they came in from the lake, 
which evinces to me their intention to remain until they can be reinforced ; 
but immediately on the arrival of the Kentucky troops at this place I ex- 
pect General Jackson will march against them, and I think there is no 
doubt of our success. Some deserters have come to us who say there are 
a great number who would come too when some favorable opportunities 
offer, as they were disappointed very much, having calculated very cer- 
tainly upon having no opposition from the French, who, I am happy to 



148 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSOi^. [1814 

say, have doue much honor to the State in turning out so generally as Ihey 
have. 

" The city is now under complete martial law, no men have permission 
to leave town, and all who come in are compelled to join the army imme- 
diately. Our friends Thockmorton, Breedlove, and Eichardson are here, 
and I expect will join our troop. WilUam Bulht has become attached to 
General Coffee's staff, as also General Poindexter. Very little business is 
done of any kind in the city — all for fight. Lavcrty was made a prisoner 
of and sent on board of the fleet, as also Robert Montgomery. John Scott 
has as yet escaped, but is stOl under arms. Our company all in tolerable 
health. Something decisive will be done in a short time, after which I hope 
to see you."* 



CHAPTER XIII. 

WHAT NEXT? 

Aye, what next ? General Pakenham had seen the 
American lines. The inference he drew from the sight was 
one of the strangest. One would have supposed that, with 
the first light of the next morning, he would have drawn away 
all his troops from the river, and, keeping near the swamp, 
have attacked the lines where General Gibhs had discovered 
them to be weakest. That General Jackson would have done 
so was shown by what he did do ; for he, too, had discovered 
the nearly fatal weakness of his left, and lost not a moment 
in strengthening it with men, earth, labor, and cannon. But 
the British general, at a council of war, attended by Cochrane, 
Malcolm, Hardy, Trowbridge, Codrington, Gibbs, and Keane, 
came 1 o the conclusion that the way to carry the American 
position was to make regular approaches to it, as to a walled 
and fortified city. Sevastopol anticipated and rehearsed ! 
And, what is remarkable, the engineer who directed the con- 
struction of the British batteries on the Delta of the Missis- 

* New York Evening Post. February 1, 1815. 



1814.J WHAT NEXT? 149 

sippi was no other than that Sir John Burgoyne whom the 
Russians, with their hasty earth works, foiled in the Crimea 
for so many months, forty years after. 

During the last three days of the year 1814 the British 
army remained inactive on the plain, two miles below the 
American lines, and in full view of them, while the sailors 
were employed in bringing from the fleet thirty pieces of 
cannon of large caliber, with which to execute the scheme 
that had been resolved upon. " The ground .which we now 
occupied," says the Subaltern, " resembled in almost every 
particular that which we had quitted. We again extended 
across the plain, from the marsh to the river ; no wood or 
cover of any description concealing our line, or obstructing 
the view of either army ; while both in front and rear was an 
open space, laid out in fields and intersected by narrow 
ditches. Our out-posts, however, were pushed forward to 
some houses, within a few hundred yards of the enemy's 
works, sending out advance sentinels even further ; and the 
headquarters of the army were established near the spot where 
the action of the 23d had been fought. 

" In this state we remained during the 29th, 30th, and 
31st, without any efforts being made to fortify our position 
or to annoy that of the enemy. Some attempts were, I be- 
lieve, set on foot to penetrate into the wood on the right of 
our line, and to discover a path through the morass, by which 
the enemy's left might be turned. But all of these proved 
fruitless, and a few valuable lives having been sacrificed, the 
idea was finally laid aside. In the meanwhile the American 
General directed the whole of his attention to the strengthen- 
ing of his post. Day and night we could observe numerous 
parties at work upon his lines, whilst from the increased num- 
ber of tents, which almost every hour might be discerned, it 
was evident that strong reinforcements were continually pour- 
ing into his camp. Nor did he leave us totally unmolested. 
By giving his guns a great degree of elevation, he contrived 
at last to reach our bivouac, and thus were we constantly un- 
der a cannonade which, though it did little execution, proved 



150 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

nevertheless extremely annoying. Besides this, he now began 
to erect batteries on the opposite bank of the river, from which 
a flanking fire could be thrown across the entire front of his 
position. In short, he adopted every precaution which pru- 
dence could suggest, and for the reception of which the nature 
of his ground was so admirably adapted." 

General Jackson was busy indeed during those three days. 
If, as Eaton says, he slept on the night of the 28th, he 
awoke the next morning, a giant refreshed. The pen can 
scarcely keep up with the rapidity of his operations. Besides 
planting cannon on the left of his position, and pushing his line 
far into the swamp, he added new batteries and new strength 
to every part of the entrenchment. A new Hue of defense 
was begun two miles nearer the city ; a resort in case the 
main lines were carried. Major Latour was sent across the 
river to construct works capable of resisting the enemy, if he 
should attempt to transfer the scene of operations to the other 
side. One hundred and fifty negroes toiled zealously for six 
days in executing Latour's plans, which, afterward, proved 
to be work well bestowed. Captain Henly, of the late Caro- 
lina, fortified and manned a brick kiln directly opposite the 
city. Commodore Patterson, since he could not succeed with 
the merchant vessels, did a better thing — ^landed heavy guns 
from the Louisiana, and established them on the right bank 
of the river, opposite the lines, so as to sweep the plain in 
front of them, if ever again the enemy should dare to ap- 
proach. Meanwhile he rolled many a ponderous ball into 
the heart of their position, doing no great damage, but add- 
ing seriously to their discomfort. The streets of New Orleans 
were scoured day and night for sailors to man the ever-rising 
batteries. Every man that smelt of tar was seized and com- 
pelled to serve. The General requested the ladies of New 
Orhians to search their garrets, cellars, closets and drawers, 
and to draw forth from its hiding place every pistol, old mus- 
ket, flint, sword, gun-barrel and ramrod that could be found ; 
for, by the daily coming in of volunteers from up the river, 
arms were beginning to be most exasperatingly scarce. Al- 



1814.] WHATNEXT? 1/)1 

ready there were hundreds of men whose arms were mere 
huntmg-knives and fowling-pieces, or muskets without flints 
or locks. A considerable number of the new troops had noth- 
ing but the spade or the pickax with which they worked on 
the lines. Express after express was dispatched up the rivei 
in search of that second load of muskets which the indignant 
General knew was on the way, and the captain of which he 
ordered to be brought down a prisoner. Every morning, at 
dawn, the terrible Louisiana dropped down to the position 
she occupied on the 28th, and after firing all day upon every 
group of red-coats that could be descried, returned at night- 
flill to a safe place above the lines.* 

When night closed in upon the scene the activity and 
the vigilance of the Americans were redoubled. In his anx- 
iety to cut off all traitorous communication with the enemy, 
Jackson lined the banks of the Mississippi with sentinels, 
and kept watch-boats flitting to and fro upon the river. To 
test their efficiency, he one night sent adrift from the levee 
of the city two empty flat-boats. They had not floated far to- 
ward the -lines before they were hailed by the watchful boat- 
men, who, receiving no answer, gave the alarm, and woke the 
thunder of the Louisiana. Before they reached the lines the 
decoy-boats were knocked to pieces, and the General was 
satisfied that nothing could float down the river without 
being perceived.f Yet, along the skirts of the wooded 
swamp, some villians contrived to sneak to the British camp, 
and sold misleading intelligence to General Pakenham. No 
Americans did this. It is a peculiarity of the American 
scoundrel to love his country after a fashion, and to celebrate 
the Fom-th of July in the State's prison with a kind of en- 
thusiasm. Men there were in Jackson's camp who wrought 
stoutly and fought valiantly through this campaign, who 
were in prison for capital offenses the hour before they 
grasped the patriotic spade or shouldered the patriotic mus- 
ket. 

The open plain between the two armies was the scene of 

* Latour, page 127. f Eaton, page 350. 



152 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1814. 

extraordinary operations during these and subsequent nights. 
No one has described this strange feature of the campaign 
with so much truth and spirit as the author of "Jackson and 
New Orleans," The General, thinks this author, need not 
have felt the anxiety he did for the security of his left, 
since the English troops, in terror of the Tennessee riflemen, 
kept as far as possible from that part of the lines. 

'■■ These wily frontiersmen," continues Mr. Walker, " habituated to the 
Indian mode of warflire, never missed a chance of picking off a straggler or 
sentinel. Clad in their dusky, brown homespun, they would glide un- 
perceived through the woods, and taking a cool view of the enemy's 
lines, woTild covei' the first Britou who came within range of their long, 
small-bored rifles. Nor did they waste their ammunition. Whenever 
they drew a bead on any object it was certain to fall. The cool indiffer- 
ence with which they would perform the most daring acts of this nature 
was amazing. 

" One of these bush-fighters, having obtained leave to go on a hunting- 
party one night, stole along tOAvards the British camp, over ditches and 
through underwood, until he got near a British sentinel, whom he imme- 
diately killed, and seizing his arms and accoutrements, laid them at some 
distance from the place where the sentinel had stood, and then concealmg 
himself waited quietly for more game. When it was time to relieve the 
sentinel, the corporal of the guard, finding him dead, posted another in his 
place, which he had hardly left before another victim fell before the unerr- 
ing rifle of the Teunessean. Having conveyed his arms and accoutrements 
to the place at which he left those of the first victim, the remorseless hunter 
took a new position, and a third sentinel, posted in the same place, shared 
the fate of the two others. At last the corporal of the guard, amazed to 
see three sentinels killed in one night at the same post, determined to ex- 
pose no more men in so dangerous a spot. The Tennessean, seeing this, 
returned to camp with the spoils of the slain, and received the congratula- 
tions of his comrades on the success of his night's hunt.* Many instances 
of a similar character, illustrative of the daring, the skill, and love of adven- 
ture of these hardy riflemen, are related by the survivors of that epoch. 
Indeed the whole army, after the events of the 23d, 25th, and 28th, seemed 
to be animated by a spirit of personal daring and gallant enterprise. 

" The plain between the two liostile camps was alive day and night 
vrith small parties of foot and horse, wandering to and fro in pursuit of ad- 
venture, on the trail of reconnoiterers, stragglers and outpost sentinela 

* Major Latour is the original authority for this story, p. 128, 



1814.] WHAT NEXT? l&J 

The natural restlessness and nomadic tendency of the Americans were 
here conspicuously displayed. After a while there grew up a regular sci- 
ence in the conduct of these modes of vexing, annoying, and weakening 
the enemy. Their system, it is true, is not to be found in Vauban's, Steu- 
ben's or Scott's military tactics, but it, nevertheless, proved to be quite ef- 
fective. It was as follows : a small number of each corps, being permitted 
to leave the lines, would start from their position and all converge to a 
central point in front of the lines. Here they would, when all collected, 
make quite a formidable body of men, and, electing their own com- 
mander, would proceed to attack the nearest British outpost, or advance in 
extended lines, so as to create alarm in the enemy's camp, and subject 
them to the vexation of being beaten to arms, in the midst of which the 
scouting party would be unusually unlucky if it did not succeed in 
" bagging" one or two of the enemy's advanced sentinels. Prominent 
among the bands which kept the British in perpetual alarm was the com- 
mand of the indefatigable Major Hinds, whose troopers from Mississippi and 
Louisiana were ever hovering about the English outposts, charging to the 
very mouths of their cannon, and driving in their pickets. Unfortunately 
for the British, so at least they thought, they were unable to mount their 
dragoons for field or fighting service ; and Hinds, having none of his own 
arm to try his mettle on, was compelled to satisfy his impatient valor in 
unequal and inefiectual but very dangerous, and to the British very vexa- 
tious, charges on their redoubts and outposts. Hinds was of great use to 
Jackson in executing reconnoissances, which he always did with brilliant 
daring and success. As soon as the British would throw up a redoubt, or 
commence planting a battery in any new position, Jackson had only to say, 
' Major Hinds, report to me the number and caliber of the guns they are 
estabhshing there.' Immediately the stalwart trooper would form his dra- 
goons, and advancing in an easy trot until he had arrived witliin a few hun- 
dred yards of the object of the reconnoissance, would order a charge, and, 
leading himself, would dash at full speed at the enemy's position, as near 
as was necessary to ascertain their strength and situation, and then wheel- 
ing under their fire and a shower of rockets, would gallop back to head- 
quarters and report to Jackson all the information he possessed. 

" In such incessant scouting parties and volunteer operations as we have 
described a majority ol' Jackson's command were engaged during the greater 
part of the night. So daring were these attacks that on more than one oc- 
casion the six-pounders were advanced from the lines and drawn within 
cannon shot of the outposts, when they would be discharged at the senti- 
nels or any living object, generally with some effect, and always with great 
terror to the British camp, causing a general apprehension that the Ameri- 
cans were advancing to attack them in full force 

" After midnight the skirmishers would return to their camp and resign 



154 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1814. 

themselves to sleep, using for their beds the brush collected from the swamp ; 
and the Tennesseans, who were encamped on the extreme left, lying qn 
gunwales or logs, raised a few inches above the surface of the water or soft 
mire of the morass. About two hours after daybreak a general stir would 
be observable in the American camp — this was for the general muster. 
Drums were then beaten and several bauds of music — among which that 
of the Orleans battalion (Planche's) was conspicuous — would animate the 
spirits of the men with martial strains, that could be heard in the desolate 
and gloomy camp of the British, where no melodious notes or other sounds 
of cheerfulness were allowed to mock their misery ; where not even a bugle 
sounded, unless as a warning or a summons of the guard to the relief of 
some threatened outpost." 

By the evening of the 31st December the thirty pieces of 
cannon from the fleet (twenty long eighteens and ten twenty- 
fours) had reached the British camp. All that day the 
Americans had been amused with a cannonade from a bat- 
tery erected near the swamp, under cover of which parties of 
English troops attempted, but with small success, to recon- 
noiter the American position. As soon as it was quite dark 
operations of far greater importance commenced. " One 
half the army," says the Subaltern, "was ordered out, and 
marched to the front, passing the piquets, and halting about 
three hundred yards from the enemy's line. Here it was re- 
solved to throw up a chain of works ; and here the greater 
part of this detachment, laying down their firelocks, applied 
'themselves vigorously to their tasks, while the rest stood 
armed and prepared for their defense. The night was dark, 
and our people maintained a profound silence ; by which 
means not an idea of what was going on existed in the 
American camp. As we labored, too, with all diligence, six 
batteries were completed long before dawn, in which were 
mounted thirty pieces of heavy cannon ; when, falling back a 
little way, we united ourselves to the remainder of the infan- 
try, and lay down behind the rushes in readiness to act as 
soon as we should be wanted. 

" In the erection of these batteries a circumstance occurred 
worthy of notice on account of its singularity. I have al- 
ready stated that the whole of this district was covered with. 



1815.] NEW yeae's day. 155 

the stubble of sugar cane, and I migbt have added that every 
storehouse and barn attached to the different mansions scat- 
tered over it was filled with barrels of sugar. In throwing 
up these works the sugar was used instead of earth. KoUing 
the hogsheads towards the front, they were placed upright in 
the parapets of the batteries, and it was computed that sugar 
to the value of many thousand pounds sterling was thus dis- 
posed of." 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

NEW year's day. 

The second Sunday of this strange mutual siege had come 
round. The light of another New Year's day had dawned 
upon the world ! 

The English soldiers had not worked so silently during 
the night upon their new batteries but that an occasional 
sound of hammering, dulled by distance, had been heard in 
the American lines. The outposts, too, had sent in news of 
the advance of British troops, who were busy at something, 
though the outposts could not say what. The veterans of 
the American army, that is, those who had smelt hostile gun- 
powder before this campaign, gave it as their opinion that 
there would be warm work again at daybreak. 

Long before the dawn the dull hammering ceased. When 
the day broke, a fog so dense that a man could discern nothing 
at a distance of twenty yards covered all the plain. Not a 
sound was heard in the direction of the enemy's camp, nor 
did the American sentinels nearest their position hear or see 
anything to excite alarm. At eight o'clock the fog was still 
impenetrable, and the silence unbroken. As late even as nine, 
the American troops, who were on slightly higher ground 
than the British, saw little prospect of the fog's breaking 
away, still less of any hostile movement on the part of the 



156 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

foe. The veterans begin to retract their opinion. We. are 
to have another day of waiting, think the younger soldiers ; 
the gay Creoles not forgetting that the day was the first of a 
new year. 

The Greneral conceding something to the pleasure-loving 
part of his army — permitted a brief respite from the arduous 
toil of the week, and ordered a grand review of the whole 
army on the open ground between the lines and his OAvn 
headquarters. To-day, too, for the first time in several days, 
the Louisiana remained at her safe anchorage above the lines, 
and a large number of her crew went ashore on the western 
bank, and took post in Commodore Patterson's new battery 
there. But this was not for holiday reasons. A deserter 
came yi the night before, and informed the Commodore that 
the enemy had established two enormous howitzers in a bat- 
tery on the levee, where balls were kept red-hot, for the pur- 
pose of firing the obnoxious vessel the moment she should 
come within range again. So the Commodore kept his vessel 
safe, landed two more of her great guns, and ordered ashore 
men enough to work them. 

Toward ten o'clock the fog rose from the American posi- 
tion, and disclosed to the impatient enemy the scene behind 
the lines. A gay and brilliant scene it was, framed and cur- 
tained in fleecy fog. " The fog dispersed," remarks Captain 
Hill, " with a rapidity perfectly surprising ; the change of 
scene at a theater could scarcely be more sudden, and the 
bright sun shone forth, diffusing warmth and gladness." 
" Being at this time," says the Subaltern, " only three hun- 
dred yards distant, we could perceive all that was going for- 
ward with great exactness. The different regiments were 
upon parade, and, being dressed in holiday suits, presented 
really a fine appearance. Mounted ofiicers were riding back- 
wards and forwards through the ranks, bands were playing, 
and colors floating in the air ; — in a word, all seemed jollity 
and gala." The General-in-chief had not yet appeared upon 
the ground. He had been up and doing before the dawn, 



1815.] NEW tear's day. 157 

and was now lying on a couch at headquarters, before riding 
out to review the troops. 

In a moment how changed the scene ! At a signal from 
the central battery of the enemy, the whole of their thirty 
pieces of cannon opened fire full upon the American lines, 
and the air was filled with the red glare and hideous scream 
of hundreds of congreve rockets ! As completely taken by 
surprise as the enemy had been on the night of the twenty- 
third, the troops were thrown into instantaneous confusion. 
" The ranks were broken," continues the Subaltern, " the 
difierent corps dispersing, fled in all directions, while the 
utmost terror and disorder apjjeared to prevail. Instead of 
nicely-dressed lines, nothing but confused crowds could now 
be observed ; nor was it without much difficulty that order 
was finally restored. Oh, that we had charged at that in- 
stant I" 

The enemy, having learned which house was the head- 
quarters of the General, directed a prodigious fire upon it, 
and the first news of the cannonade came to Jackson in the 
sound of crashing porticoes and outbuildings. During the 
first ten minutes of the fire, one hundred balls struck the 
mansion, but, though some of the General's suite were covered 
with rubbish, and Colonel Butler was knocked down, they all 
escaped and made their way to the lines without a scratch. 

The Subaltern is mistaken in saying that the troops. fled 
in all directions. There was but one direction in which to 
fly either to safety or to duty ; for, on that occasion, the post 
of duty and the post of safety were the same, namely, close 
behind the line of defense. For ten minutes, however, the 
American batteries, always before so prompt with their re- 
sponsive thunder, were silent, while the troops were running 
in the hottest haste to their several posts. 

Ten guns were in position in the American lines, besides 
those in the battery on the other side of the river. Upon 
Jackson's coming to the front, he found his artillerymen at 
their posts, waiting with lighted matches to open fire upon 
the foe, as soon as the dense masses of mingled smoke and 



158 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON [1815. 

mist that enveloped their batteries should roll away. " Jack- 
Bon's first glance," as Mr. Walker informs us, " when he 
reached the line, was in the direction of Humphrey's battery. 
There stood this right arm of the artillery, dressed in his usual 
plain attire, smoking that eternal cigar, coolly leveling his 
guns and directing his men, 

" ' Ah !' exclaimed the General, ' all is right ; Humphrey 
is at his post, and will return their compliments presently.' 

" Then, accompanied by his aids, he walked down to the 
left, stopping at each battery to inspect its condition, and 
waving his cap to the men as they gave him three cheers, and 
observing to the soldiers, 

" ' Don't mind those rockets, they are mere toys to amuse 
children.' "* 

Colonel Butler, whom the General had seen prostrated at 
headquarters, came running up to the lines covered with dust. 
" Why, Colonel Butler," roared the General, " is that you "? 
I thought you were killed." 

" No, General ; only knocked over." 

Captain Humphrey soon caught a glimpse of the British 
batteries ; structures of narrow front and slight elevation, 
lying low and dim upon the field ; no such broad target as 
the mile-long lines of the American position. Adjusting a 
twelve- pounder with the utmost exactness, he quietly gave 
the word, 

" Let her off." 

And the firing from the American lines began. The other 
batteries instantly joined in the strife. Ere long the British 

* " As to the rockets employed by the Austrian artillery, we can not conceal 
our astonishment at seeing two whole regiments organized for the use of theso 
playthings. The effect of the rockets was absolutely null on our inflxntry and 
cavalry, and the French were at last as much amused by them as by ordinary 
fireworks. At Solferino, all the cavalry of the guard, amounting to six regi- 
ments, remained half the day exposed to a regular shower of these projectiles ; 
at times the reports of their harmless explosions almost drowned the roar of Gen- 
eral Soleille's artUlery, though his forty-two guns kept up an unceasing firo. I 
have not heard of either man or horse being killed by these rockets." — Paris 
Neivspaper, July, 1859, Narrative of Bailie of Solferino. 



1815.] NEW tear's day. 159 

howitzers on tlie levee and the battery of Commodore Patter- 
son on the opposite bank exchanged a vigorous fire. For the 
space of an hour and a half a cannonade so loud and rapid 
shook the delta as had never before been heard in the western 
world. Vain are all words to convey to the unwarlike reader 
an idea of this tremendous scene. Imagine fifty pieces of can- 
non, of large caliber, each discharged from once to thrice a 
minute ; often a simultaneous discharge of half a dozen pieces ; 
an average of two discharges every second ; while plain and 
river were so densely covered with smoke that the gunners 
aimed their guns from recollection chiefly, and knew scarcely 
any thing of the effect of their fire. 

Well aimed, however, were the British guns, as the Ameri- 
can lines soon began to exhibit. Most of their balls buried 
themselves harmlessly in the soft, elastic earth of the thick 
embankment. Many flew over its summit and did bloody ex- 
ecution on those who Avere bringing up ammunition, as well 
as on some who were retiring from their posts. , Several balls 
struck and nearly sunk a boat laden with stores that was 
moored to the levee two hundred yards behind the lines. The 
cotton bales of the batteries nearest the river were knocked 
about in all directions, and set on fire, adding fresh volumes 
to the already impenetrable smoke. One of Major Planche"s " 
men was wounded in trying to extinguish this most annoying 
fire. A thirty-two pounder in Lieutenant Crawley's battery 
was hit and damaged. The carriage of a twenty-four was 
broken. .One of the twelves was silenced. Two powder-car- 
riages, one containing a hundred pounds of the explosive ma- 
terial, blew up with a rejoort so temfic as to silence for a mo- 
ment the enemy's fire, and draw from them a faint cheer. 
And still the lines continued to vomit forth a fire that knew 
neither cessation nor pause, until the guns grew so hot that 
it was difficult and dangerous to load them. And after an 
hour and a half of such work as this no man in Jackson's 
army could say with certainty whether the English batteries 
had been seriously damaged. 



160 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [18lO 

Nolte was behind the lines during this desperate cannonade, 
and favors his readers with his recollections of it. 



"The largest British battery," says Mr. Nolte, "had directed its fire 
against the battery of the pirates Dominique and Beluche, who had divided 
our company into two parts, and were supplied with ammunition by it 
Once, as Dominique was examining the enemy through a glass, a cannon 
shot wounded his arm ; he caused it to be bound up, saying, ' I will pay 
them for that !' and resumed his glass. He then directed a twenty-four 
pounder, gave the order to fire, and the ball knocked an English gun car- 
riage to pieces, and killed six or seven men. Our company lost that day 
but one man, our least, a French hatter, called Laborde. For predesti- 
narians I would mention that the young notary, Philippe Peddesclaux, was 
standing exactly in front of Laborde, and the latter would not have been 
hit had he not been bending forward at the moment to light his cigar by 
my neighbor, St. Avit's. When the latter turned he saw Laborde's scat- 
tered brains and prostrate body. The flash of a gun reaches the eye long 
before the report gets to the ear, and thus the ball can sometimes be avoided. 
I have watched both the flash and the report, and I have seen the best 
tried soldiers, both officers and men, even the utterly fearless Jackson him- 
self, getting out of the way of the congreve rockets, which were sent in 
great quantities from the British camp. Others, again, either actuated by 
a diiferent principle, or less prudently observant of danger and less anxious 
to avoid it, like my friend St. Avit for instance, remained confident in their 
fate in the same position, and stood quietly as if all the roar of the cannon 
'and the hissing of missiles about their ears was entirely without interest 
for them. 

" On this day, which saw our whole line except the batteries exposed 
to the fire, my worthy friend, Major Carmick, who commanded the volun- 
teer battalion, and was near the pirates' battery, was struck by a congreve 
rocket on the forehead, knocked off his horse, and had both his arms injured. 
I asked leave to accompany him to the guard-house, and as we reached the 
low garden wall behind Jackson's headquarters, I saAV, to my great amaze- 
ment, two of the General's volunteer adjutants, Duncan, the lawyer, and 
District Marshal Duplessis, lying flat on the ground to escape the British 
balls. Livingston was invisible — writing and reading of proclamations kept 
him out of sight. The General during this cannonade was constantly riding 
fi-om one wing to the other, accompanied by his usual military aids, Reid 
and Butler, and the two advocates, Grymes and Davezac. . . . The 
munitions were in chjyge of Governor Claiborne, who was so frightened 
that he could scarcely speak. On the 1st of January ammunition wa3 
wanting at batteries Nos. 1 and 2. Jackson sent in a fury for Claiborne 



1815.] NEw'yEAR'S DAT 161 

who was with the second division, and said to him, 'By the Almighty 
God, if you do not send me balls and powder instantly, I shall chop oflf 
vour head, and have it rammed into one of those field-pieces.' " 



Of which the reader may believe as much as he thinks tit. 
The General, I may add, did not mount his horse till the 
fort une of the day was decided. To have done so would have 
been simply suicidal. 

While the first cannonade was still at its heio-ht, word was 
brought to Jackson that a body of the enemy were approach- 
ing the left of his line along the edge of the swamp. Coffee 
was upon them while they were struggling with the ditfical- 
ties of the ground, and drove them back to the main body. 

It was nearly noon when it began to be perceived that the 
British fire was slackening. The American batteries were 
then ordered to cease firing for the guns to cool and the smoke 
to roll away. What a scene greeted the anxious gaze of the 
troops when, at length, the British position was disclosed ! 
Those formidable batteries, which had excited such consterna- 
tion an hour and a half before, were totally destroyed, and 
presented but formless masses of soil and broken guns ; while 
the sailors who had manned them were seen running from 
them to the rear, and the army that had been drawn up behind 
the batteries, ready to storm the lines as soon as a breach had 
been made in them, had again ignominiously "taken to the 
ditch." 

" Never," remarks the author of Jackson and New Or- 
leans, " was work more completely done — ^more perfectly fin- 
ished and rounded off. Earth and heaven fairly shook with 
the prolonged shouts of the Americans over this spectacle. 
Still the remorseless artillerists would not cease* their fire. 
The British infantry would now and then raise their heads 
and peep forth from the ditches in which they were so inglori- 
ously ensconced. The level plain presented but a few knolls 
ur elevations to shelter them, and the American artillerists 
were as skillful as riflemen in picking off those who exposed 
ever so small a portion of their bodies. Several extraordinary 

VOL. II. — 11 



162 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

examples of this skill were communicated to the writer by a 
British officer who was attached to Pakenham's army. A num- 
ber of the officers of the 93d having taken refuge in a shallow 
hollow behind a slight elevation, it was proposed that the only 
married officer of the party should lie at the bottom, it being 
deemed the safest place. Lieutenant Phaups was the officer 
indicated, and laughingly assumed the position assigned him. 
This mound had attracted the attention of the American gun- 
ners, and a great quantity of shot was thrown at it. Lieu- 
tenant Phaups could not resist the anxiety to see what was 
going on in front, and peeping forth, with not more than half 
of his head exposed, was struck by a twelve-pound shot, and 
instantly killed. His companions buried him on the spot on 
which he fell, in full uniform. Several officers and men were 
picked oif in a similar manner." 

Those hogsheads of sugar were the fatal mistake of the 
English engineers. They afforded absolutely no protection 
against the terrible fire of the American batteries ; the balls 
going straight through them, and killing men in the very cen- 
ter of the w£)rks. Hence it was that in little more than an 
hour the batteries were heaps of ruins, and the guns dis- 
mantled, broken and immoveable. The howitzers, too, on 
the levee, after waging an active duel with Commodore Pat- 
terson on the other side of the river, were silenced and over- 
thrown by a few discharges from Captain Humphrey's twelve- 
pounclers. Nothing remained for the discomfited army but 
to make the best of their way to their old position ; and so 
incessant was the American fire during the afternoon, that it 
was only when night spread her mantle over the plain that 
all the army succeeded- in withdrawing. 

9 

"Once more," says the Subaltern, "we were obliged to retire, leaving 
our heavy guns to their fate ; but as no attempt was made by the Ameri- 
cans to secure them, working parties were again sent out after dark, and 
such as had not been destroyed were removed. 

" Of the fatigue undergone during these operations by the whole army, 
from the General down to the meanest sentinel, it would bo difficult to 
•brm an adequate conception. For two whole niglits and days not a man 



1815.] NEW year's day. IGli 

had closed an eye, except such as were caol enough to sleep anu'ilst 
showers of cannon-ball ; and during the day scarcely a moment had been 
allowed in which we were able so much as to break our fast. We retired, 
therefore, not only bafQed and disappointed, but in some degree disheart- 
ened and discontented. All our plans had as yet proved abortive ; even 
this, upon which so much reliance liad been placed, was found to be of no 
avail ; and it must be confessed that something like murmuring began to 
be heard through the camp. And, in truth, if ever an army might be per- 
mitted to murmur it was this. In landing they had borne great hardships, 
not only without repining, but with cheerfulness; their hopes had been 
excited by false reports as to the practicability of the attempt in which thev 
were embarked: and now they found themselves entangled amidst diffi- 
culties from which there appeared to be no escape,- except by victory. In 
their attempts upon the enemy's hne, however, they had been twice foiled ; 
in artillery they perceived themselves to be so greatly overmatched that 
their own could hardly assist them ; their provisions, being derived wholly 
from the fleet, were both scanty and coarse ; and their rest was continu- 
ally broken. For not only did the cannon and mortars from the main 
of the enemy's position play unremittingly upon them both by day and 
night, but they were Ukewise exposed to a deadly fire from the opposite 
bank of the river, where no less than eighteen pieces of artillery were now 
mounted, and swept the entire Une of our encampment. Besides all this, 
to undertake the duty of a picket was as dangerous as to go into action. 
Parties of American sharpshooters harassed and disturbed those appointed 
to that service, from the time they took possession of their post until they 
were relieved ; whilst to ho;ht fires at night was impossible, because they 
served but as certain marks for the enemy's gunners. I repeat, therefore, 
that a httle murmuring could not be wondered at. Be it observed, how- 
ever, that these were not the murmurs of men anxious to escape from a 
disagreeable situation by any means. On the contrary, they resembled 
rather the growling of a chained dog, when be sees his adversary and can 
not reach him ; for in all their complaints no man ever hinted at a retreat, 
whilst all were eager to bring matters to the issue of a battle, at any sacri- 
fice of lives." 

• 
Another British officer writes : — "Five guns were left be- 
hind (which afterwards fell into Jackson's hands), rendered 
useless, it is true, but it can not be said that the British 
army came oif without the loss of some of its artillery. Dur- 
ing three days and three nights I had never closed an eye. 
My food, during all that space, consisted of a small quantity' 
ol salt beef, a sea biscuit or two, and a little rum ; and even 



164 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

that I could hardly find time or leisure to consume, ■'•' * * 
When pork and beans ran short, it was no uncommon thing 
for both officers and men to appease the cravings of hunger 
by eating sugar taken out of the casks and moulded into 
cakes." 

The British loss on the 1st of January was about thirty 
killed and forty wounded ; the Americans, eleven killed and 
twenty-three wounded. Most of the American slain were 
not engaged in the battle, but were struck down at a consid- 
erable distance behind the lines, while they were looking on 
as mere spectators. 

Among the wounded there was one whose memory the 
author of " Jackson and New Orleans" has nobly embalmed 
in his excellent work — Judali Touro, the far-famed and 
far-beloved philanthropist of New Orleans, who on this day 
served his country in a capacity much more dangerous than 
that of combatant. 

"After performing other severe labors as a common soldier in the ranks, 
Mr. Touro, on the first of January, volunteered his services to aid in car- 
rying shot and shell from the magazine to Humphrey's battery. In this 
humble but perilous duty he vv'as seen actively engaged, during the terri- 
ble cannonade with which the British opened the day, regardless of the 
cloud of iron missiles which flew around him, when many of the stoutest- 
hearted clung closely to the embankment or sought some shelter. But in 
the discharge of duty this good man knew no fear and perceived no dan- 
ger. It was whilst thus engaged that he was struck on the thigh by a 
twelve-pound shot, which pioduced a ghastly and dangerous wound, tear- 
ing off a large mass of flesh. Mr. Touro long survived this event, leading 
a life of unostentatious piety and charity, and setting an example of active 
philanthropy which justly merited the fervent gratitude and Avarm affec- 
tion in which he was held by the community, of which he was justly re- 
garded as the patriarch — th# ' Israelite without guile.' 

" No charitable appeal was ever made to him in vain. His contribu- 
tions to philanthropic and pious enterprises exceed those of any other citi- 
zen. The same patriotism which prompted him to expose Ms life on the 
plains of Chalmette dictated that handsome donation of ten thousand dol- 
lars for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument, and has character- 
, ized a thousand other deeds of like liberality, performed 'by stealth,' which 
were no less commendable for their generosity than their entire freedom 
from sectarian feeling or selfish aim. 



1815.] NEW year's day. 165 

" An incident illustrative of the beauty of friendship and gratitude, of 
the noble and gentle traits of humanity, may serve as an agreeable relief 
in this narrative of strife and bloodshed. 

" Judah Touro and Rezin D. Shepherd, two enterprising merchaiits, the 
one from Boston and the other from Virginia, had settled in New Orleans 
at the commencement of the present century. They were intimate, de- 
voted friends, who lived under the same roof, aud were scarcely ever sep- 
arated. When the State was invaded, both volunteered their services, and 
were enrolled among its defenders. Mr. Touro was attached to the regi- 
ment of Louisiana militia, and Mr. Shepherd to Captain Ogden's horse 
troop. 

" Commodore Patterson, who was an intimate friend of Mr. Shepherd, 
solicited Greneral Jackson to detach him, as his aid, to assist the Commo- 
dore in the erection of his battery on the right bank of the river, and in the 
defence of that position. It was whilst acting as Patterson's aid that Mr. 
Shepherd came across the river on the 1st of January, with orders to pro- 
cure two masons to execute some work on the Commodore's battery. The 
fii'st person Mr. Shepherd saw, on reaching the left bank, was Reuben Kem- 
per, who informed him that his old friend Touro was dead. Forgetting his 
urgent and important mission, Mr. Shepherd eagerly inquired whither they 
had taken his friend. He was directed to a wall of an old building which 
had been demolished by the British battery in the rear of Jackson's head- 
quarters, and on reaching it found Mr. Touro in an apparently dying con- 
dition. He was in charge of Dr. Kerr, who had dressed his wound, but 
who, shaking his head, declared that there was no hope for him. Mr. 
Shepherd, with the devotion of true friendship, determined to make every 
eifort to save his old companion. He procured a cart, and, hfting the 
wounded man into it, drove to the city. He administered brandy very 
freely to his fainting and prostrate friend, and thus in a great degree kept 
him alive.* On reaching the city, Mr. Shepherd carried Touro into his 
house, and there obtaining the services, as nurses, of some of those noble 
ladies of the city, who devoted themselves with so much ardor to the care 
and attendance of the sick and wounded of Jackson's army, and, seeing 
that he was supported with every comfort and need, he hastened to dis- 
charge the important duty Avhich had been confided to him, and which he 
had nearly pretermitted, in responding to the still more sacred calls of 
friendship and affection. 

" It Avas late in the day before Shepherd, having performed his mis- 
sion, returned to Patterson's battery. The cloud of anger was gather- 
ing on the brow of the Commodore when he met his deUnquent or 

* The good old man used to say this was the only time he ever drank to 
excess. 



166 LIFE OF ANDBEW JACKSON. [1815 

dilatory aid, but it soon dispersed when tlie latter promptly and frankly 
exclaimed, 

" ' Commodore, you can hang or shoot me, and it will be all right ; but 
my best friend needed my assistance, and nothing on earth could have in- 
duced me to neglect him.' He then stated the circumstances of Mr. Touro'a 
misfortune, and the causes of his dilatory execution of the duty assigned to 
him. Commodore Patterson was a man — he appreciated the feelings of 
his aid, and thought more of him after this incident than before. They 
continued warm friends throughout the campaign and ever afterwards. 

" Shepherd and Touro, with a friendship thus tested and cemented, 
were ever afterwards inseparable in this world. Death alone could sever 
them, and then only in a material sense. Such fidelity deserved the rich 
reward which fortune showered on them. They became millionaires, and 
as the most valuable of their possessions retained the esteem and regard 
of the community of wliich they were the patriarclis." 

Mr. Touro died in 1854, leaving one-half of his immense 
estate for charitable pui-poses, and the other half to the friend 
to whom he was indebted for his life on the 1st of January^ 
1815. That friend, in the same noble spirit, has devoted the 
greater part of the legacy to improving the street in which 
both passed their lives, after a plan long meditated and de- 
sired by Mr. Touro. To perpetuate the memory of his bene- 
volent friend, Mr. Shepherd has given the name of Touro to 
the renovated street. 



CHAPTER XV. 

FINAL PREPARATIONS. 

The cotton error was quickly repaired. Every bale of 
that delusive material was removed from the works, and its 
Dlace supplied with the black and spongy soil of the Delta, 
which the Sunday cannonade had shown to be a perfect de- 
fense ; the balls sinking into it out of sight without sliaking 
the embankment. The lines were strengthened in every part, 



1815.] FINAL PREPARATIONS. 167 

and new cannon mounted upon them. Work was continued 
upon the second line, a mile and half in the rear. Even 
a third line of defense was marked out and begun, still 
nearer the city. On the opposite bank of the river, the old 
works were rej)aired and strengthened, and new ones com 
menced. 

What the enemy would attempt next was a mystery 
which General Jackson anxiously revolved in his mind, and 
strove in all ways to penetrate. Monday, Tuesday, Wednes- 
day, Thursday passed away, and still the hostile army made 
no movement which gave the American General a clue to 
their design, if design they had. Strong men and weak men, 
good men and men less good, are all alike liable to the error 
of judging others by themselves. During these days, there- 
fore, Jackson inclitied to the opinion that his lines would nut 
again be attacked, and so wrote to the Secretary of War. 
While apparently bending all his energies to the sole object 
of strengthening his position, his mind was racked with fear 
of being surprised in another quarter. How natural such an 
idea ! If thirty pieces of cannon could not penetrate the 
lines, what could ? If, on the 1st of January, the American 
position was found impregnable, could it be deemed less so 
after three thousand men had worked upon it for nearly a 
week ? Two attempts having signally and ignominiously 
failed, would any general risk his army and his reputation 
upon a third ? 

Eeasoning thus, and having already experienced two false 
alarms of a landing above the city, the General ordered his 
trusty friend and volunteer, the indomitable Keuben Kemper, 
hater of Spaniards, to take a file of picked men and steal 
round, by canal and bayou, to the mouth of tlie Bienvenu, 
where the enemy had landed, and see what they were doing, 
whether they were preparing to go elsewhere, or whether they 
seemed permanently established. With extreme difficulty and 
danger, after twenty-four hours of incessant exertion, Kemper 
reached a point which overlooked the entmy's position. He 
saw tiiat they were strongly intrenched there ; had sentinels 



168 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

posted in trees ; were burning the prairies so as to command 
a wider view ; were evidently in dread of being attacked ; 
and bad no thought of shifting the base of their operations. 
Some of Kemper's men, though they were in the heart of the 
enemy's position, had the audacity, before taking to the swamp 
on their return, to fire upon a small party of troops guarding 
boats. The enemy gave chase, and succeeded in taking pris- 
oner one of the Americans. Kemper was the first to reach 
Jackson's headquarters, and the intelligence he brought had 
an important effect in quieting the General's apprehensions 
and enabling him to concentrate his forces and his faculties 
upon the lines. It was still no less a myst<3ry, however, what 
the English soldiers were so busy about below the Villere 
mansion house. 

On Wednesday morning, January the 4frh, the long-looked- 
for Kentuckians, two thousand two hundred and fifty in num- 
ber, reached New Orleans. Seldom has a reinforcement been 
so anxiously expected ; never did the arrival of one create 
keener disappointment. They were so ragged that the men, 
as they marched shivering through the streets, were observed 
to hold together their garments with their hands to cover their 
nakedness ; and, what was far worse, because beyond remedy, 
not one man in ten was well armed, and only one man in three 
had any arms at all. It was a bitter moment for General 
Jackson when he heard this ; and it was a bitter thing for 
those brave and devoted men, who had fondly hoped to find 
in the abundance of New Orleans an end of their exposure 
and destitution, to learn that the General had not a musket, 
a blanket, a tent, a garment, a rag, to give them. A body 
of Louisiana militia, too, who had arrived a day or two be- 
fore from Baton Kouge, were in a condition only less deplora- 
ble. Here was a force of nearly three thousand men, every 
man of whom was pressingly wanted, paralyzed and useless 
from want of those arms that had been sent on their way 
down the river sixty days before. It would have fared ill, I 
fear, with the captain of that loitering boat, if he had chanced 
to arrive just then, for the General was wroth exceedingly. 



1S15.J FINAL PREPARATIONS 169 

Up the river go new expresses to bring him down in irons. 
" They bring him, at last, the astonished man, but days and 
days too late. The old soldiers of this campaign mention 
that the General's observations upon the character of the 
hapless captain, his parentage, and upon various portions of 
his mortal and immortal frame, were much too forcible for 
repetition in these piping times of peace. 

The Legislature of Louisiana and the people of New 
Orleans behaved on this occasion with prompt and noble 
generosity. The Legislature had been admitted to their, 
chambers after an exclusion of one day only. Major Latour, 
a staunch defender of the Legislature, records what was done 
by them and by the people for the relief of the destitute sol- 
diers : 

"Mr. Louaillier, the elder, a member of the House of Representatives, 
obtained from the Legislature the sum of six thousand dollars, which was 
put at the disposition of a committee formed for their relief. Subscriptions 
were also opened at New Orleans for the same purpose, and another sum 
of six thousand dollars was soon subscribed ; and it is to be observed that 
the Orleans volunteers and militia, not satisfied with discharging their duty 
to their country by their presence in the camp, sent for a subscription list, 
and filled it with their signatures. The county of the German coast sub- 
scribed about three thousand six hundred, and that of Attakapas remitted 
to the committee five hundred dollars. The whole sum thus obtained, in- 
cluding what was voted by the Legislature, amounted to sixteen thousand 
one hundred dollars, and was laid out in purchasing blankets and woolens, 
which were distributed among the ladies of New Orleans, to be made into 
clothes. Within one week twelve hundred blanket cloaks, two hundred 
and seventy-five waistcoats, eleven hundred and twenty-seven pairs of 
pantaloons, eight hundred shirts^ four hundred and' ten pairs of shoes, and a 
great number of mattresses, were made up, or purchased ready made, and 
distributed among our brethren in arms, who stood in the greatest need of 
them. Though the gratitude of their fellow-citizens, and the consciousness 
of their patriotic service, be to Mr. Louaillier, and to Messrs. Dubuys and 
&3ulie, who cooperated with him in his honourable exertions, a sufficient 
reward, yet I must be allowed to pay those gentlemen the tribute of ap- 
plause so justly due to them. 

" In the course of the campaign several fathers, or men who were the 
support of families, among the volunteers and militia of the State, having 
been killed or wounded, those who depended on them for suj^port were 



170 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1815 

lefl in the greatest distress ; wherefore the Legislature, on the 6th of Feb- 
ruary, enacted that the pay of wounded men should be continued till the' 
end of next session, and that the families of those slain in the service of the 
country should receive pay for the deceased until the same period. With 
pleasure I take this opportunity to do justice to the patriotic and highly 
praiseworthy conduct of the Legislature, not only on this occasion but dur- 
ing the whole session. The sole reproach that attaches to them is theii 
having, early in the session, spent, in unimportant dis(;ussions relative to 
elections, much more time than was consistent with a due regard to the 
exigencies of the critical circumstances in which we then were." 

As most of the merchants were absent from the city, their 
deserted warehouses were ransacked for the necessary goods, 
receipts being left for all that were taken. Among the arti- 
cles thus unceremoniously seized were those identical blankets 
which Nolte had so slily brought from Pensacola at the time 
of the attack on Fort Bowyer. Every man in the army who 
could repair a gun was sought out. We see in the letters of 
the time that every day a cart conveyed to the city defective 
weapons, and returned in the afternoon with a load of them 
repaired. General Adair, at the last moment, will negotiate 
a loan of muskets from the guard of veterans and exempts in 
the city, and so will render available a large proportion of his 
men. Greneral John Adair, in the absence of General Thomas, 
who is sick, commands the Kentucky troops. 

The enemy, meanwhile, had recovered their spirits and in- 
creased their numbers. Two regiments, the seventh and forty- 
third infantry, numbering together seventeen hundred, under 
General John Lambert, had arrived from England, infusing 
new life into the disheartened army, and raising its force to 
seven thousand three hundred men.* General Pakenham 
had formed a bold and soldierlike design, for the execution of 
which the whole army was preparing, and the camp was alive 
with expectation. The " chained dog" would at length get at 
his enemy and growled no more. " The new scheme," says 
Ihe Subaltern, " was worthy, for its boldness, of the school in 
which Sir Edward had studied his profession. It was deter- 

* James' Military Occvj-rences, ii., p. 373. 



1815.] FINAL rKEPARATIONS. 171 

inined to divide the army ; to send part across the river, who 
should seize the enemy's guns, and turn them on themselves ; 
whilst the remainder should at the same time make a general 
assault along the whole entrenchment. But before this plan 
could he put into, execution it would he necessary to cut a 
canal across the entire neck of land from the Bayou de Catiline 
to the river, of sufficient width and depth to admit of boats 
being brought up from the lake. Upon this arduous under- 
taking were the troops innucdiately employed. Being divided 
into four comj^anies, they labored by turns, day and night ; 
one party relieving another after a stated num^ber of hours, in 
such order as that the work should never be entirely deserted. 
The fatigue undergone during the prosecution of this attempt 
no words can sufficiently describe ; yet it was pursued with- 
out repining, and at length, by unremitting exertions, they 
succeeded in eifecting their purpose by the 6th of January." 

The lines, then, were to be stormed ! As conceived, the 
plan was that of a general ; as carried out — ^but we must not 
anticipate. The vital clause of the scheme was that which 
contemplated the carrying of the works on the western bank 
first, and the turning of Commodore Patterson's great guns 
upon the back of Jackson's lines. Let that be done, and the 
lines are untenable, and will require little storming. If that 
is not done, or not done in time, the storming of the lines will 
be a piece of work such as British soldiers have seldom at- 
tempted. The naked bodies of the troops will have to en- 
counter that before which sugar hogsheads and earth- works 
crumbled to pieces in an hour ! 

It was not till Friday evening, the sixth of the new year, 
that General Jackson began to so much as suspect the enemy's 
design. On that day Sailing-Master Johnson, who was posted 
at the Chef-Menteur, seeing a small English brig on her way 
from the fleet to the Bienvenu, laden, as he supposed, with 
supplies for the British army, darted out upon her with three 
boats and ca23tured her and ten prisoners. From these pris- 
oners the American General learned one important fact, that 
the enemy were deepening and prolonging a canal across the 



172 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

plain. Then their plan began to dawn upon Jackson's mind. 
Early the next morning Commodore Patterson walked behind 
the levee of the western bank to a point directly opposite the 
British position, and spent several hom's there in watching 
their movements. Upon his return the General no longer 
doubted that in a very few days or hours he would have to 
resist a simultaneous attack on both sides of the river. The 
bustle in the enemy's camp, and the forward state of their 
preparations, indicated that ere the sun of another Sunday 
had appeared above the horizon they might be upon him. 

On Saturday afternoon Jackson was much at his high 
window at headquarters, observing the enemy's movements. 
He had done what he could do to prepare for them, and little 
then remained but to await the result with what calmness he 
could. He had been showing the lines to his old friend Gen- 
eral Adair, of Kentucky, and asking his opinion of them. 
Perhaps the reader would like to accompany the two generals 
as they walked along the lines, stopping here and there to note 
the thickness of the embankment or the construction of a 
battery. General Adair had afterwards no great opinion of 
Jackson's generalship, but he must have been amazed as he 
surveyed the position, and learned that of all these batteries 
and this long line of intrenchment there had been no trace, 
or only a trace, fourteen days before, and that on five or six 
of those days it had rained, and during two more the work 
had been interrupted by fighting. 

Let us begin at the river's edge on the eastern bank. 
There, on Friday, had been constructed in haste, find as an 
after thought, a redoubt or horn-work, which extended a few 
feet in advance of the lines, and was so constructed as to en- 
filade their front, in case the enemy should succeed in reach- 
ing the edge of the canal. It was an isolated structure. Be- 
tween it and the lines ran the Roderiguez canal, over which 
a single plank was laid for convenience of access. Jackson 
did not like the plan of this work when it was presented to 
him by the engineers, but yielded to what he supposed their 
better judgment. When to-day he saw this horn-work nearly 



1815.] FINAL PREPARATIONS 173 

complete, lie shook his head, and, turning to one of his aids, 
said — 

" That loill give us troiihh!" 

This redoubt was manned by a company of the 44th, 
commanded by Lieutenant Boss, and its three guns were 
served by a detachment of the same regiment, commanded by 
Lieutenant Marant. It should be* added here, that the ditch 
designed to encircle this redoubt was never dug to any great 
depth, and was nearly dry, owing to the falling of the river. 

In the lines, behind this redoubt, were posted thirty of 
Beale's New Orleans riflemen ; the rest of the company being 
prisoners on board the British fleet, whither they were taken 
after the night battle of the 23d of December. 

On the high road, within the leVee, and seventy feet from 
the river, was battery number one, containing two brass 
twelve-pounders and a six-inch howitzer, commanded by 
Captain Humphrey, of 'the eternal cigar.' This battery 
commanded the road, and its fire just grazed the side of that 
redoubt at which Jackson had shaken his head. Humphrey's 
guns were manned by regulars of the artillery service, and his 
howitzer by a party of New Orleans dragoons belonging to 
the company of Major St. Geme. 

Walking along to a point ninety yards from battery mem- 
ber one, we come to battery number two, on the highest 
ground in the lines, containing one twenty-four, served by 
part of the crew of the Carolina, and commanded by their 
Lieutenant Norris. Between battery number one and battery 
number two, and beyond number two as far as number three, 
was posted the 7tli regiment of United States infantry, num- 
bering four hundred and thirty men, commanded by Major 
Peire, of Pensacola celebrity. 

Fifty yards from battery number two was battery number 
three, the famous battery of the privateers Dominique and 
Bluche, each of whom had a twenty-four pounder under his 
charge, served by French sailors. 

Twenty yards further we reach battery number four, under 
Lieutenant Crawley, who has a huge thirty-two pounder, and 



174 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

a part of the Carolina's crew to work it. Between number 
three and number four were stationed Major Planche's bat- 
talion of ' fathers of families,' numbering two hundred and 
eighty-nine men, and Major Lacoste's colored freemen, num- 
bering one hundred and eighty. 

Between battery number four and battery number five was 
an interval of one hundred and ninety yards, occupied by Major 
Dacquin's colored freemen, one hundred and fifty in number. 
Number five contained but two six-pounders, under Oolonel 
Perry and Lieutenant Kerr, both of the regular artillery. 

Thirty-six yards further was battery number six, contain- 
ing a brass twelve, served by a French company under Gene- 
ral Garrigue Flaujac, assisted by Lieutenant Bertel. The 
interval between number five and number six was occupied 
by the 44th United States infantry, two hundred and forty 
muskets, under Captain Baker. 

One hundred and ninety yards from battery number six 
was battery number seven, with its long brass eighteen, and a 
six-pounder, under Lieutenant Spots and Lieutenant Chau- 
veau. Beyond number seven was posted a body of fifteen 
marines, under Lieutenant Bellevue, and they were the last 
of the regular force. 

• Sixty yards beyond number seven was battery number 
eight, containing merely a small brass carronade, with a de- 
fective carriage, under the direction of a corporal of artillery, 
and served by a few of General Carroll's militiamen. At this 
last battery the forest began, and there the lines elbowed to 
the north, and soon struck the mire of the cypress swamp. 

From battery number eight, half a mile into the swamp, 
as far as any kind of an earth-work could be kept erect, the 
lines were defended by the Tennesseans of General Cofiee and 
General Carroll, all of whom were compelled, for many days 
and nights, to lead the lives of amphibious creatures. 
" Though constantly living," says Latour, " and even sleep- 
ing in the mud, those worthy sons of Columbia never uttered 
a complaint, nor showed the least symptom of discontent or 
impatience. Those who have not seen the ground, can not 



1835.] FINAL PREPAKATI0N8. 175 

form an idea of the deplorable condition of the troops en- 
camped on the left of the line. But it was necessary to 
guard that quarter against the attacks of the enemy ; it was 
necessary that troops should be stationed there to repulse him 
on the edge of the breastwork, if, under cover of the bushes, 
he advanced to our intrenchments. Those brave men sup- 
ported all their hardships with resignation, and even with 
alacrity." These defenders of the swamp numbered about 
twenty-one hundred. At the extreme left General Coffee 
commanded — the man who always had the luck to get the 
hardest duty, and who always did it unflinchingly. 

The embankment, behind which all these men and can- 
non were posted, varied in height and thickness. At some 
places it was twenty feet thick at the summit, and eight feet 
high ; at others not more than four feet thick and five feet 
high. Where it was highest, a banquette or shelf had been 
formed for the men to stand upon when they fired. Where 
it was lowest, the marksmen stooped to load and bent to fire. 
If a mile of the river levee had been pierced for cannon, lifted 
from its place and laid across the plain, it would have closely 
resembled Jackson's lines. At the center, let us not forget to 
add, from a tall flag-staff floated the stars and stripes, visible 
to both armies, and to all the country round on both sides of 
the river — waving inspiration over the army defending their 
native or their adopted soil, and keeping them ever in mind 
of the sacred and glorious nature of the duty they were there 
to do. 

At a safe distance behind the lines was a town of tents 
and shanties, where some of the troops found brief and sweet 
repose after the toils of the day and the roving combats of 
the early night ; each tent and shanty marked and decorated 
with any small apology for a flag or ensign that Creole fancy 
or American ingenuity could hastily devise. Behind these 
again, at a distance of four hundred yards from the intrench- 
m-nts, stretched a close line of sentinels from the river to the 
swamp, io prevent any one from leaving the camp. Five 
hundred yards in front of the lines were the last of the Amer- 



176 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

ican outposts, watching tlie movements of the enemy. It 
was a scene most animated and picturesque which General 
Jackson looked down upon from his upper window at the 
McCarty mansion ; a proud one, too, for him whose ener- 
getic and energizing genius had evoked it, as it were, from 
the Delta's yielding ooze. 

" Well," said Jackson to Adair, after they had gone the 
rounds, " what do you think of our situation ? Can we de- 
fend these works or not ?" 

" There is one way," replied the Kentuckian, " and but 
one way, in which we can hope to defend them. We must 
have a strong corps of reserve to meet the enemy's main at- 
tack, wherever it may be. No single part of the lines," con- 
tinued Adair, " is strong enough to resist the united force of 
the enemy. But, with a strong column held in our rear, 
ready to advance upon any threatened point, we can beat them 
off."* 

This was an important suggestion. Two heads are better 
than one, Jackson might have said, and, perhaps, did say, for 
he was a man addicted to proverbs. He adopted General 
Adair's idea. " He agreed," says Adair, " that I should act 
with the Kentuckians as a reserve corps, and directed me to 
select my own ground for encampment, to govern my men as 
I thought most proper, and that I would receive no orders 
but from himself." 

And oif to town gallops Adair, on the General's own white 
horse, to prevail on the veteran guard to lend him some of 
their muskets for three days only, so that he was able to em- 
ploy several hundreds of his troops in that important service. 

Such was the position of affairs on Jackson's side of the 
river. On the western bank the prospect was less j)romising. 
Commodore Patterson was there, and he had spent the week 
in arduous labor ; but all his exertions had been directed to- 
ward the annoyance of the enemy on the other side of the 
river, not to the defense of his own position. As late as Wed- 

* Letter of General Adair, in Kentucky Reporter^ October, 1817. 



1815.] FINAL PEEPAEATIONS. 177 

nesday morning nothing had been done to prepare for an 
attack on the western bank. " During the 2d and 3rd/' 
wrote Commodore Patterson to the Secretary of the Navy, 
" I landed from the ship and mounted, as the former ones, on 
the banks of the river, four more twelve-pounders, and erected 
a furnace for heating shot, to destroy a number of buildings 
which intervened between General Jackson's lines and the 
camp of the enemy, and occupied by him. On the evening of 
the 4th I succeeded in firing a number of them and some rice 
stacks by my hot shot, which the enemy attempted to extin- 
guish, notwithstanding the heavy fire I kept up, but which 
at length compelled them to desist. On the 6th and 7th I 
erected another furnace, and mounted on -the banks of the 
river two more twenty-four pounders, which had been brought 
up from the English Turn by the exertions of Colonel Cald- 
well, of the drafted militia of this State, and brought within 
and mounted on the intrenchments on this side the river one 
twelve-pounder. In addition to which. General Morgan, com- 
manding the militia on this side, planted two brass six-pound 
field pieces in his lines, which were incomplete, having been 
commenced only on the 4th. These three pieces were the only 
cannon on the lines. All the others, being mounted on the 
bank of the river, with a view to aid the right of General 
Jackson's lines on the opposite shore, and to flank the enemy 
should they attempt to march up the road leading along the 
levee, or erect batteries on the same, of course could render no 
aid in defense of General Morgan's lines. My battery was 
manned in part from the crew of the ship, and in part by 
militia detailed for that service by General Morgan, as I had 
not seamen enough to fully man them." 

On Saturday afternoon, upon Commodore Patterson's re- 
porting to General Jackson what he had observed at the en- 
emy's camp, it was determined to send over the river, to rein- 
force General Morgan, a body of Kentuckians. Colonel Davis 
and four hundred of those troops were detailed for that pur- 
pose. At seven o'clock in the evening, after a day of hard 
duty, during which they had only once broken their fast^ 

VOL. 11. — 13 



178 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

Colonel Davis and his men marched from the lines toward 
New Orleans, where they were to receive their arms and cross 
the river by the ferry. At the city it was found that only 
two hundred muskets, and those old and defective, could be 
procured. Only two hundred men, therefore, crossed the river. 
It was two o'clock before they reached the western shore. 
Fatigued, hungry, and chilled to the bone with long waiting, 
they formed upon the levee, and set out for General Morgan's 
position. Over a road miry from the recent rains, walking 
sometimes knee deep in mud and water, the Kentuckians 
made their way, and reached Morgan's soon after four o'clock 
in the morning, as unfit for any duty involving danger and 
exertion as can be imagined. 

Even with this reinforcement, General Morgan's command 
amounted to no more than eight hundred and twelve men, all 
militia, all badly armed, posted behind works upon which four 
hundred men had labored for three days. Jackson should 
have spared a few companies of regulars for this side of the 
river, which had suddenly become so important ; although, for 
his own lines, he had but three thousand two hundred men, 
against an army which he supposed to consist of twelve thou^ 
sand disciplined troops. With another day of preparation and 
clear insight into the enemy's design he would have done 
Bomething effectual for the western bank. It was too late 
then. The days of preparation were numbered — were passed. 
Fare with him as it might to-morrow, he could do no more. 

The demeanor of the two armies on the eve of the 8th of 
January is worth noting. It does not appear that any con- 
siderable number of the American troops knew on Saturday 
that an attack on the lines was impending, and was likely to 
take place on the morrow. Jackson, Livingston, Patterson, 
Latour, and others, closely observing the enemy's movements 
from the high window at headquarters, on Saturday after- 
noon, discovered many of the British soldiers tying together 
bundles of sugar-cane. " Fascines for filling up our ditch,'^ 
suggested some one. Others of the British troops seemed to 
be working upon poles and pieces of wood. " Scaling ladders 



1815.] FINAL PREPARATIONS. 179 

perhaps." Far away, below the Yillere mansion, a great 
crowd of red-coats were ajiparently endeavoring to move some 
huge, un wieldly thing ; but whether it was a boat they were 
trying to launch, or a piece of cannon they were getting into 
position, no one could determine. Officers were galloi">ing 
about from post to post, apparently leaving orders as they 
went. 

" Oh, there is no doubt of it," thought Jackson's infor- 
mal council ; " they mean business ; they will attack at day- 
break." 

Nolte tells us that Commodore Patterson, on his way from 
headquarters to his post on the other side of the river, said to 
him as he passed, " I expect you will see some fun between 
this and to-morrow." Nolte adds that only himself and a 
few others knew what was expected. 

But when, soon after dark, the noise of preparation in the 
British camp grew louder and came nearer, there could not 
have been much doubt in the lines that another most unquiet 
Sunday was in reserve for them. There was much silent and 
rather grim preparation in Jackson's camp ; a cleaning of 
arms, a counting out of cartridges, and adjustment of flints, 
and a careful loading of muskets and rifles. Beside the 
thirty-two pounder was heaped up a bushel or two of 
musket balls and fragments of iron, enough to fill the piece 
up to the muzzle, and which will fill it up to the muzzle if 
the enemy come to close quarters, and deal such wholesale 
death among them as no thirty-two pounder has ever dealt 
before. Yes, grimness certainly prevails to a considerable ex- 
tent. We are in earnest. Jackson walks slowly along the 
hnes just before dark. He, too, is gi'im, but confident. He 
wears the look of a man whose mind is wholly made up, and 
•who clearly knows what he will do in any and every case. 
He stops occasionally, to see that the stacked muskets are all 
loaded, ani says to Planche's men, as he goes along their part 
of the Imes > 

"Don't fire till you can see the whites of their eyes, and 
if you want to sleep, sleep upon your arms " 



180 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1815 

There was not mucli sleeping that night. One half the 
men remained in the lines ; the other half went to the camp, 
as usual, and relieved their comrades about one. " And yet/' 
says Nolte, "few were prepared for to-morrow's tragedy." 
But who could have been prepared for it ? Was there one 
man in either army who had formed any image of tlie mor- 
row's events which at all resembled the reality ? Not one ; 
not Jackson, though he came nearest, probably ; least of all, 
poor Pakenham. 

In the English camp there was merriment enough it 
appears. At least there was a great deal of that loud, hol- 
low gaiety which soldiers are wont to assume on the eve of 
battle. Captain Cooke's narrative gives us some interesting 
and some impressive glimpses. Captain Cooke came with tho 
two new regiments : — 

'On the 7th of January," says he, "two days after our landing, the 
first brigade, consisting of the seventh and the forty-third regiments (the 
two corps mustering under arms upwards of seventeen hundred bayonets), 
were reviewed in hne and within long cannon range, their backs turned 
towards the enemy's lines. The music played, the vapor of this swamp 
had cleared off", the sun shone brilliantly, and the officers and soldiers of 
these regiments were in the highest spirits at the near probability of their 
being led on to the attack. When it was asked why the general-in-chief, 
Packenham, did not appear at this review, as he was expected, we were 
told that he was up in a tree in the pine wood, examining the works of 
the Americans 

" In the afternoon of this day the eighty-fifth regiment, which was 
about three hundred and fifty strong, passed our hues from the front by 
companies, with intervals between each, as I have seen the light divisions 
march in Spain. These companies, though weak, were in excellent order, 
and proceeded towards the headquarters, to be in readiness to emba/k be- 
fore daybreak the following morning. 

" As the eighty -fifth passed along, it struck me that they looked dis- 
pleased at their being removed from the main body, and indeed one or two 
of the officers so expressed themselves, saying that it would be now our 
turn to get into New Orleans, as they had done at Washington. This 
corps had not been fortunate in Spain, and they could not^et rid of a mark 
that had been set upon them, although this regiment had been fresh offi- 
cered similar to other corps, and remodeled since that time, and when 
employed behaved quite as well as other regiments. However, do what 



1815.] FINAL PKEPARATIONS. 181 

they would, ' the peninsular fire-eaters,' as they were jocosely called, would 
give them little or no credit ; for in these days, if a man had not been in 
half a dozen battles, from the effects of which seventy or eighty thousand 
on either side were swept off, he was designated as ' a young hand,' and 
bade to hold his peace, or to be gone with his ' subaltern ideas.' "... 

" However, to the point. The eighty-fifth regiment will not be easily 
obliterated from the archives of America, although certain 'peninsulars' stiU 
give them little quarter. When this corps crossed my vista, I must con- 
fess that I eyed these soldiers of 'Bladensburgh,' and of the previous 
' night combat' already told, with a considerable degree of curiosity. 

" Some hours after dark so much noise and confusion took place round 
the headquarters near the canal, that the continued buzz of voices must 
have been heard in the American liaes, added to which several of the huts 
were in flames. Myself and another officer, being attracted by so unusual 
a noise, walked to the bank of the river to see whether we could distin- 
guish any lights in the forest on the opposite side of the Mississippi, but 
every thing on the part of the enemy was dark and silent, while on our side 
confusion, revelry, and mirth prevailed, and we both agreed, on the dyke 
of the river, that things wore an aspect of an ominous complexion, and, 
like days mentioned of old, when the rejoicing forestalled the victory. 

" And we noticed it as a most extraordinary circumstance, that there 
was no person or sentinel on the bank of the river employed in looking out, 
and at such remissness we were much astonished. The night was rather 
dark ; and we stood on the levie de terre of the river as much alone and 
undisturbed, although only a short way from the wooden house, containing 
the headquarters and the hut of the bivouac, as if there had been no 
troops within a hundred miles of the spot." 

******** 

" On this eventful night we both agreed in opinion that there was a 
looseness and bawling in the sugar-cane bivouac and about the slave huts, 
which we had never seen or heard before within sight of an enemy and on 
the eve of an attack ; besides, these burnings presented a clear sign to the 
Americans that there was some commotion unusual in our lines, and put 
them on their guaVd for a movement of some sort. Further, with a fore- 
boding which proved too ominous in the sequel, we agreed, to use cant 
phraseology, that there was a screw loose somewhere. 

" And, moreover, without being accused of speaking of myself impru- 
dently, these, my opinions, may be strengthened by stating that in other 
countries I had been employed on the look-out post to report the move- 
ments of armies larger than the small number of troops occupying the con-« 
tracted space I now speak of Therefore, according to such official etiquette, 
if it goes for any thing in America, I may now give my opinion, I trust, 
without being accused of unpardonable presumption, that, during the whole 



182 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON, [1815, 

of the previous day there had been a downright row in the camp. And it 
was amusini( to see the non-combatants galloping and capering about on 
short-tailed American hackneys, as though they were bound on some 
sportive excursion, or collecting names to fill up a handy-cap for some con- 
templated horse-race ; and this gayety was carried on, and might be ob- 
served by the Americans, casting an oblique glance from the tops of the 
trees just within the left of their lines. 

" I was always a lover of festive gambols ; but the contrast be- 
tween the past and the coming day was so singularly remarkable, that 
it calls forth remarks for some of these Lotharios, or more properly 
the leeches of the army, who, like vultures growing fat upon the car- 
nage of the field of battle, and now prancing about on their Ameri- 
ican horses, were not to be seen tlA following day on ground plowed 
up, every now and then, by the rusty balls from the American bat- 
teries. And there were some strange stories told of certain gentlemen 
throwing themselves headlong into the boats with the wounded, declar- 
ing they were ill, under the care of the doctor, and worn down by dys- 
entery. 

" Some of the large boats, with carronades in their bows, were lying in 
the canal (into which a sufl&ciency of water had not yet flowed), which 
were intended to carry the troops across the river. Standing on its bank, 
we contemplated the probable result of coming events, and looked with 
anxiety to descry whether there was any light or fire kindled in the forest 
on the opposite shore, as the best way of judging whether the Americans 
were aware of the intended passage of tlie British troops to that bank of 
the river during the night, or as soon as the boats could be got out ; but 
no such indication on the part of the Americans was visible; all in that di- 
rection was wrapped in somber darkness. My friend and myself, having 
staid some time at this spot, were of opinion that the Americans were on 
the opposite bank of the river, or their scouts at the supposed spot of de- 
barkation, but had prudently refrained from kindhng any fires, the more 

effectually to conceal their object. 

******** 

"I had scarcely reached the bivouac from the bank of the river, and 
was about to lie down to take some repose, when I was ordered to join 
two hundred soldiers of my own corps at eleven o'clock at night, for the 
purpose of marching to the front to mend and guard a battery, within 
seven hundred yards of the right of the American lines — ^in fact, to the 
very spot close to the high road leading to New Orleans, where the Brit- 
ish had hesitated and twice recoiled from the effects of the American ar- 
tillery. 

" As soon as we had reached this dilapidated mud redoubt, within point- 
blank range of the American crescent battery, both in front as well a»s from 



1815.] FINAL PREPAKATIONS. l83 

the batteries on the right bank of the river, spades were put into the hands 
of the soldiers (while others kept guard) to endeavor to make it tenable 
before daylight, but as the water sprang up at the depth of a foot or nine 
inches below the surface of the soft ground, the men were obliged to pare 
the surface for a great extent round, and to bring the shovels and spades 
dropping with mud to plaster on the queerest entrenchment I ever saw. 
In this fashion we labored the latter portion of the night. And some pieces 
of cannon were -dragged with exceeding toil by the soldiers and sailors to 
place in battery. But the time would not permit all the platforms to be 
laid down. And, indeed, its epaulements were not cannon-shot proof. 
The want of matei'ials and the short time alloAved made it impossible to 
make them so. 

" Some time before daybreak I noticed the forms of men silently glid- 
ing past the right of the temporary battery, and on approaching I found 
them to consist of some of the rifle corps, who were going to the front to 
take up their ground, to watch the American lines, to form a chain of posts, 
and to be in readiness to open their fire a la point dejour. These riflemen 
were gliding along with the same silent footsteps as they were wont to do 
on the eve of so many memorable occasions where their services had been 
required. 

" Probably no troops that ever stood under arms could boast of having 
taken up so many dangerous and venturous posts, and of having been so 
often in close contact with an enemy without being detected, or without 
making any unnecessary noise in their ranks, or causing a lonely shot to be 
discharged at them, owing to an enemy having been prematurely alarmed. 
The outposts, during the silent hour of night, give rise to a variety of soli- 
tary thoughts. How often have we seen the day close, and kept watch 
together during the hom's of the tempest, on the snow-covered ground, as 
well as on those brilhant nights in Spain, when the broad shadows of the 
moon lighted up the sofl and tranquil scenery, to lull the imagination with 
the most alluring thoughts and associations of the ' past, the present, and 
the future.' When people talk of the field of battle, and the heat of the 
fight, how little do they know how many tedious houis the troops of out- 
post duty have to undergo, waiting for the whispers or the tread of an 
armed foe, or in momentary expectation of a flash of fire, or a discharge of 
bullets, and how often these troops are exposed to straggling and single 
combats for whole days. This was the case with the rifles, for they had 
always been in front, and always called for, and before New Orleans were 
much cut up. 

" These troops took up their ground according to orders, and were 
ready to attack as soon as the signal was given, but were extended in a 
useless way and ranged along a front to be exposed singly to an over- 
powering fire, instead of leading the front of the small column destined to 



184 LIFE 01' ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

attack the detached half-moon battery on the right of the enemy's lines oi 
barricades. 

" I do not remember ever looking for the first signs of daybreak with 
more intense anxiety than on this eventful morning ; every now and then 
I thought I heard the distant hum of voices, then again something like the 
iolefiil rustling of the wind before the coming storm among the leaves of 
the foliage. But no, it was only the effect of the momentary buzzing in 
my ears ; all was silent — the dew lay on the damp sod> and the soldiers 
were carefully putting aside their intrenching tools, and laying hold of their 
arms to be up and ready to answer the first war call at a moment's warn- 
ing. How can 1 convey a thought, of the intense anxiety of the mind 
when a solemn and somber silence is broken in upon by the intonation of 
cannon, and when the work of death begins. Now the vail of night was 
less obscured, and its murky mantle dissolved on all sides, and the mist 
was sweeping off the face of the earth ; yet it was not day, and no object 
was very visible beyond the extent of a few yards. The morn was chilly 
— I augured not of victory, an evil foreboding crossed my mind, and I 
meditated in solitary reflection. All was tranquil as the grave, and no 
^amp fires glimmered from either friends or foes. 

" Soon after this the two light companies of the seventh and ninety- 
third regiments came up without knapsacks, the Highlanders with their 
blankets rolled and slung across their backs, and merely wearing the shell 
of their bonnets, the sable plumes of real ostrich feathers brought by them 
from the Cape of Good Hope having been left in England. One company 
of the forty-third light infantry also followed, marching up rapidly. These 
three companies formed a compact little column of two hundred and forty 
soldiers near the battery on the high road to New Orleans. They were to 
attack the crescent battery near the river, and, if possible, to silence its fire 
under the muzzles of twenty pieces of cannon ; at a point, too, Avhere the 
bulk of the British force had hesitated when first they landed, and had re- 
coiled from its fire on the 28th of the last December and on the 1st of Jan- 
uary. I asked Lieutenant Duncan Campbell where they were going, when 
he replied, ' I be hanged if I know :' then said I, ' you have got into what 
I call a good thing ; the far-famed American battery is in front at a short 
range, and on the left this spot is flanked at eight hundred yards by their 
batteries on the opposite bank of the river.' At this piece of information 
he lauErhed heartily, and I told him to take off his blue pelisse coat, to be 
like the rest of the men. 

" ' No,' he said, gayly, ' I will never peel for any American. Come^ 
Jack, embrace me.' He was a fine grown young officer of twenty years 
of age, and had fought in many bloody encounters in Spain and 
France, but this was to be his last, as well as that of many more brave 
men." * • 



1815.] FINAL PREPABATIONS. 185 

The more prudent Subaltern omits such particulars, which 
reveal so impressively the spirit of the scene. But he tells us 
of a sore mishap which befell the party under Colonel Thorn- 
ton, who were detailed for the attack on the western bank. 
The water, owing to the fall of the river, was so low in the 
canal, that it was not until eight hours after the appointed 
time of embarking that enough boats were launched into the 
Mississippi to convey across one-third of the designated force. 
Instead of fourteen hundred men, only four hundred ana 
ninety-eight went over. Instead of embarking immediately 
after dark, it was nearly daybreak before they reached the 
opposite bank. Instead of landing directly opposite the 
British position, the swift deceptive current swept them down 
a mile and a half below it. But this little band, thus balked 
and delayed, was led by a soldier, Colonel W. Thornton, the 
most daring and efficient man in the British army, who, at 
Bladensburgh, and wherever else he had served, had shown 
what the British army will do when valor and good conduct 
are weightier claims to advancement than being a Duke of 
Wellin2:ton's brother-in-law. 

Captain Hill makes an important statement respecting 
the occurrences in the British camp on the seventh of Jan- 
uary. " Before sunset," he says, " I was directed to carry 
instructions to Lieutenant Tapp, of the royal engineers, for 
communicating with the Honorable Colonel Mullins of the 
44th, respecting the redoubt in which the fascines, etc., were 
placed, and to report the result of my interview. It so hap- 
pened that whilst I was in conversation with the engineer, 
Colonel Mullins approached us, and I instantly availed my- 
self of the opportunity, and read the directions from head- 
q^uarters to him, begging to know if he thoroughly understood 
their purport ; in reply, I was assured that nothing could he 
clearer. On my return, I reported to Sir Edward my good 
fortune in finding these two officers together ; his excellency 
expressed himself much pleased, and thanked me for having 
80 completely satisfied him of the impossibility that any mis-« 
take could arise in the execution of orders so important." 



186 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY 

At one o'clock on the morning of this memorable day, oc 
a couch in a room of the M'Carty mansion-house, General 
Jackson lay asleep, in his worn uniform. Several of his aids 
slept upon the floor in the same apartment, all equipped for 
the field, except that their sword-belts were unbuckled, and 
their swords and pistols laid aside. A sentinel paced the ad- 
jacent passage. Sentinels moved noiselessly about the build- 
ing, which loomed up large, dim and silent in the foggy night, 
among the darkening trees. Most of those who slept at all 
that night were still asleep, and there was as yet little stir in 
either camp to disturb their slumbers. 

Dreaming of their Scottish hills and homes, their English 
fields and friends, may have been many brave Britons in their 
cold and wet bivouac. tardy science, Oersted, Morse, 
O Cyrus Field, why were you not ready with your Oceanic 
Telegraph then, to tell those men of both armies when they 
woke that they were not enemies, but friends and brothers, 
and send them joyful into each other's arms, not in madness 
against feach other's arms '^ The ship that bore this blessed 
news was still in mid-ocean, contending with its wintry winds 
and waves. How much would have gone differently in our 
history if those tidings had arrived a few weeks sooner ? But 
it was not to be. This fight, it was the decree of Providence, 
was to be fought out. 

Commodore Patterson was not among the sleepers that 
night. . Soon after dark, accompanied by his faithful aid, 
Shepherd, the friend of Judah Touro, he again took his posi- 
tion on the western bank of the river, directly opposite to 
where Colonel Thornton was struggling to launch his boats 
into the stream, and there he watched and listened till nearly 
midnight. He could hear almost every thing that passed, 
and could see, by the light of the camp-fires, a line of red- 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 187 

coats drawn up along the levee. He heard the cries of the 
tugging sailors, as they drew the boats along the shallow^ 
caving canal, and their shouts of satisfaction as each boat was 
launched with a loud splash into the Mississippi. From the 
great commotion, and the sound of bo many voices, he began 
to surmise that the main body of the enemy were about to 
cross, and that the day was to be lost or won on his side of 
the river. There was terror in the thought, and wisdom too ; 
and if General Pakenham had been indeed a general the 
Commodore's surmise would have been correct. Patterson's 
first thought was to drop the ship Louisiana down upon them. 
But no ; the Louisiana had been stripped of half her guns 
and all her men, and had on board, above water, hundreds of 
pounds of powder : for she was then serving as powder-maga- 
zine to the western bank. To man the ship, moreover, would 
involve the withdrawal of all the men from the river bat- 
teries ; which, if the main attack were on Jackson's side of the 
river, would be of such vital importance to him. Oh ! for 
the. little Carolina again, with Captain Henly and a hundred 
men on board of her ! 

Eevolving such thoughts in his anxious mind. Commodore 
Patterson hastened back to his post, again observing and la- 
menting the weakness of Grcneral Morgan's line of defense. All 
that he could do in the circumstances was to dispatch Mr, 
Shepherd across the river to inform General Jackson of what 
they had seen, and what they feared, and to beg an immedi- 
ate reinforcement.* 

Informing the captain of the guard that he had important 
intelligence to communicate, Shepherd was conducted to the 
room in which the General was sleeping. 

" Who's there .^" asked Jackson, raising his head, as the 
door opened. 

Mr. Shepherd gave his name and stated his errand, adding 
that General Morgan agreed with Commodore Patterson in 



• Dispatch of Commodore Patterson to Secretary of the Navy, January 10, 
1815. 



188 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

the opinion that more troops would be required to defend the 
lines on the western bank. 

" Hurry back," z'eplied the General, as he rose, " and tell 
General Morgan that he is mistaken. The main attack will 
be on this side, and I have no men to spare. He must main- 
tain his position at all hazards." 

Shepherd recrossed the river with the Greneral's answer, 
which could not have been very reassuring to Morgan and his 
inexperienced men, not a dozen of whom had ever been in ac- 
tion, 

Jackson looked at his watch. It was past one, 

" Gentlemen," said he to his dozing aids, " we have slept 
enough. Rise. The enemy will be upon us in a few minutes. 
I must go and see Coffee." 

The order was obeyed very promptly. Sword belts were 
buckled ; pistols resumed ; and in a few minutes the party 
were ready to begin the duties of the day. -' There was little 
for the American troops to do but to repair to their posts. 
By four o'clock in the morning, along the whole line of works, 
every man was in his jilace and every thing was ready. A 
little later, General Adah marched down the reserve of a 
thousand Kentuckians to the rear of General Can-oil's po- 
sition, and, halting them fifty yards from the works, went 
forward himself to join the line of men peering over the top 
of the embankment into the fog and darkness of the morning. 
The position of the reserve was most fortunately chosen. It 
was almost directly behind that part of the lines wliiph a de- 
serter from Jackson's army had yesterday told General Pak- 
enham was their weakest point ! And the deserter was half 
right. He had deserted on Friday, before there had been any 
thought of the reserve, and he forgot to mention that Coffee 
and Carroll's men, over two thousand in number, were the 
best and coolest shots in the world. What a terrible trap his 
half-true information led a British column into ! 

Not long after the hour when the American General had 
been roused from his couch. General Pakenham, who had 
* Jackson and New Orleans, page 318. 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 18S 

slept an hour or two at the Villere mansion, also rose, and 
rode immediately to the hank of the river, where Thornton 
had just embarked his diminished force. He learned all that 
the reader knows of the delay and difficulty that had there 
occurred, and lingered long upon the spot listening for some 
sound that should indicate the whereabouts of Thornton. 
But no sound was heard, as the swift Mississippi had carried 
the boats far down out of hearing. Surely Pakenham must 
have known that the vital part of his plan was, for that morn- 
ing, frustrated. Surely he will hold back his troops from 
the assault until Thornton announces himself The doomed 
man had no such thought. The story goes that he had been 
irritated by a taunt of Admiral Cochrane, who- had said, that 
if the army could not take those mud-banks, defended by 
ragged militia, he would do it with two thousand sailors 
armed only with cutlasses and pistols. And, besides, Pak- 
enham believed that nothing could resist the calm and deter- 
mined onset of the troops he led. He had no thought of 
waiting for Thornton, unless, perhaps, till daylight. 

Before four o'clock the British troops were up, and in 
the several positions assigned them. Let us note, as accu- 
rately as possible, the distribution of the British forces. The 
official statements of the general aid us little here ; for, as 
an English officer observed, nothing was done on this awful 
day as it was intended to be done. The actual positions of 
the various corps at four o'clock in the morning, and the duty 
assigned to each, as I gather after the study of about thirty 
narratives of the battle, were as follows : ' 

First, and cliiefly. On the borders of the cypress swamp, 
half a mile below that part of the lines where Carroll com- 
manded and Adair was ready to support him, was a powerful 
column of nearly three thousand men, under the command of 
General Gibbs. This column was to storm the lines where 
they were supposed to be weakest, keeping close to the wood, 
and as far as possible from the enfilading ffi-e of Commodore 
Patterson's batteries. This was the main column of attack. 
It consisted of three entire regiments, the fourth, the twenty- 



190 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

first, and the forty-fourth, with three companies of the ninety- 
fifth rifles. The forty-fourth, an Irish regiment, which had 
seen much service in America, was ordered to head this col- 
umn and carry the fascines and ladders, which, having been 
deposited in a redoubt near the swamp over night, were to 
be taken up by the forty-fourth as they passed to the front. 

Secondly, and next in importance. A column of light 
troops, something less than a thousand in number, under the 
brave and energetic Colonel Kennie, stood upon the high road 
that ran along the river. This column, at the concerted 
signal, was to spring forward and assail the strong river end 
of Jackson's lines. That isolated redoubt, or horn-work, 
lay right in their path. We shall soon see what they did 
with it. 

Third. About midway between these two columns of 
attack stood that magnificent regiment of praying High- 
landers, the ninety-third, mustering that morning about nine 
hundred and fifty men, superbly appointed,- and nobly led by 
Colonel Dale. Here General Keane, who commanded all 
the troops on the left, commanded in person. His plan was, 
or seems to have been, to hold back his Highlanders until 
circumstances should invite or compel their advance, and then 
to go to the aid of whichever column should appear most to 
need support. 

Fourth. There was a corps of about two hundred men, 
consisting of some companies of the ninety-fifth rifles and 
some of the fusileers, who, as Captain Cooke has told us, had 
been employed at the battery all night, and were now wan- 
dering, lost, and leaderless in the fog. They were designed 
to support the Highlanders, but never found them. Such ad- 
ventures as they had, and such sights as they saw, Captain 
Cooke, in his rough, graphic way, shall describe to us in due 
time. 

Fifth. One of the black regiments, totally demoralized by 
cold and hardship, was posted in the wood on the very skirts 
of the swamp, for the purpose of "skirmishing," says the 
"British official paper ; to amuse General Cofl^ee, let us say 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY, 191 

The other black corps was ordered to carry the ladders 
and fascines for General Keane's division, and line work they 
made of it. 

Sixth. On the open plain, eight hundred and fifty yards 
from Dominguez' post in the American lines, was the Eng- 
lish battery, mounting six eighteen-pounders, and containing 
an abundant supply of congreve rockets. 

Seventh. The reserve corps consisted of the greater part 
of the newly-arrived regiments, the seventh and the forty- 
third, under the officer who accompanied them. General Lam- 
bert. This column was posted behind all, a mile, perhaps, 
from the lines, and stood ready to advance when the word 
came. 

Such was the distribution of the British army on this 
chill and misty morning. What was the humor of the 
troops ? As they stood there, performing that most painful 
of all military duties, waiting, there was much of the forced 
merriment with which young soldiers conceal from themselves 
the real nature of their feelings. But the older soldiers 
augured ill of the coming attack. Colonel Mullens, of the 
forty-fourth, openly expressed his dissatisfaction. 

"My regiment/' said he, " has been ordered to execution. 
Their dead bodies are to be used as a bridge for the rest of 
the army to march over." 

And, what was worse, in the dense darkness of the morn- 
ing he had gone by the redoubt where were deposited the 
fascines and ladders, and marched his men to the head of the 
column without one of them. Whether this neglect was 
owing to accident or design concerns us not. For that and 
other military sins Mullens was afterward cashiered. 

Colonel Dale, too, of the 93d Highlanders, a man of far 
different quality from Colonel Mullens, was gi*ave and de- 
pressed. 

" What do you think of it ?" asked the physician of the 
regiment, when word was brought of Thornton's deten- 
tion. 

Colonel Dale made no reply in words. Giving the docto/ 



192 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON, [1815, 

his watcli and a letter, he simply said, " Give these to my 
wife ; I shall die at the head of my regiment." 

Soon after four, General Pakenham rode away from the 
bank of the river, saying to one of his aids, " I will wait my 
own plans no longer." 

He rode to the quarters of General Gibbs, who met him 
with another piece of ominous intelligence. " The forty- 
fourth," Gibbs said, " had not taken the fascines and ladders 
to the head of the column ; but he had sent an officer to 
cause the error to be rectified, and he was then expecting 
every moment a report from that regiment." General Pak- 
enham instantly dispatched Major Sir John Tylden to ascer- 
tain whether the regiment could be got into position in time. 
Tylden found* the forty-fourth just moving off from the re- 
doubt, " in a most ' irregular and unsoldierlike manner, with 
the fascines and ladders. I then returned," adds Tylden, in 
his evidence, " after some time, to Sir Edward Pakenham, 
and reported the circumstance to him ; stating, that by the 
time which had elapsed since I left them they must have ar- 
rived at their situation in column." 

This was not half an hour before dawn. Without wait- 
ing to obtain absolute certainty upon a point so important as 
the condition of the head of his main column of attack, the 
impetuous Packenham commanded, to use the language of 
one of his own officers, " that the fatal, ever-fatal rocket 
should be discharged as a signal to begin the assault on the 
left." A few minutes later a second rocket whizzed aloft — 
the signal of attack on the right. 

If there was confusion in the column of General Gibbs, 
there was uncertainty in that of Genei-al Keane — at least, in 
that lost fraction of it where Captain Cooke was, and young- 
Duncan Campbell, who would not " peel for any American." 

" The mist," says Cooke, " was slowly clearing off, and 
objects could only be discerned at two or three hundred yards 
distant, as the morning was rather hazy ; we had only quit- 

* Court-martial of Lieutenant-Colonel Mullens. Evidence of Sir John Tyl- 
den, p. 36. 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 193 

ted the battery two minutes when a congreve rocket was 
thrown up, but whether from the enemy or not we could not 
tell ; for some seconds it whizzed backwards and forwards in 
such a zig-zag way that we all looked up to see whether it 
was coming down upon our heads. The troops simultane- 
ously halted, but all smiled at some sailors dragging a two- 
wheeled car a hundred yards to our left, which had brought 
up ammunition to the battery, who, by common consent as 
it were, let go the shaft, and left it the instant the rocket 
was let off. (This rocket, although we did not know it, 
proved to be the signal to begin the attack.) All eyes were 
cast upwards, like those of so many philosophers, to descry, 
if possible, what would be the upshot of this noisy harbinger, 
breaking in upon the solemn silence that reigned around. 
During all my military services I never remember seeing a 
small body of troops thrown at once into such a strange con^ 
figuration, having formed themselves into a circle, and having 
halted, both officers and men, without any previous word of 
command, each man looking earnestly as if by the instinct of 
his own imagination to see in what particular quarter the 
anticipated firing would begin. Canopied over as these sol- 
diers were with a concave mist, beyond the distance of two 
hundred yards it was impossible to see. 

" The Mississi23pi was not visible, its waters likewise being 
covered over with the fog ; nor was there a single soldier, save 
our own little phalanx, to be seen, or the tramp of a horse or 
a single footstep to be heard, by way of announcing that the 
battle scene was about to begin, before the vapory curtain 
was lifted or cleared away for the opposing forces to get a 
glimpse one of the other. So that we were completely lost, 
not knowing which way to bend our footsteps, and the only 
words which now escaped the officers were, ' steady, men.' 
' steady, men,' these precautionary warnings being quite un- 
necessary, as every soldier was, as it were, transfixed like fox- 
hunters, waiting with breathless expectation, and casting 
significant looks one at the other before Keynard breaks 
cover. 

VOL. II. — 13 



194 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

" All eyes seemed anxious to dive tlirough the mist, and 
all cars were attentive to the coming moment, as it was im- 
possible to tell whether the blazing would begin from the 
troops who were supposed to have already crossed the river, 
or from the great battery of the Americans on the right bank 
of the MississijDpi, or from their main lines. From all these 
points we were equidistant and within point-blank range, 
and were left, besides, totally without orders and without 
knowing how to act, or where exactly to find out our own 
corps, just as if we had not formed part and parcel of the 
army. 

" The rocket had fallen probably into the Mississippi. 
All was silent ; nor did a single officer or soldier attempt to 
shift his foothold, so anxiously was the mind taken up for the 
first intonation of the cannon to guide our footsteps, or, as it 
were, to pronounce with loud peals where was the point of 
our destination." 

The suspense was soon over. Daylight struggled through 
the mist. About six o'clock both columns were advancing at 
the steady, solid, British pace to the attack ; the forty-fourth 
nowhere, straggling in the rear with the fascines and ladders. 
The column soon came up with the American outposts, who 
at first retreated slowly before it, but soon quickened their 
pace, and ran in, bearing their great news, and putting every 
man in the works intensely on the alert ; each commander 
anxious for the honor of first getting a glimpse of the foe, and 
opening fire upon him. 

Lieutenant Spotts, of battery number six, was the first man 
in the American lines who descried through the fog the dim red 
line of General Gibbs' advancing column, far away down the 
plain, close to the forest. The thunder of his great gun broke 
the dread stillness. Then there was silence again ; for the 
shifting fog, or the altered position of the enemy concealed 
him from view once more. The fog lifted again, and soon 
revealed boih divisions, which, with their detached companies, 
seemed to cover two thirds of the plain, and gave the Ameri- 
cans a repetition of the splendid military spectacle wliich they 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 195 

had witnessed on the 28th of December. Three cheers 
from Carroll's men. Three cheers from the Keiituckians be- 
hind them. Cheers continued from the advancins; column, 
not heai-d yet in the American lines. 

Steadily and fast the column of Grcneral Gibbs marched 
toward batteries numbered six, seven, and eight, which })layed 
upon it, at first with but occasional effect, often missing, some- 
times throwing a ball right into its midst, and causing it to 
reel and pause for a moment. Promptly were the gaps filled 
up ; bravely the column came on. As they neared the lines 
the well aimed shot made more dreadful havoc, "cutting 
great lanes in the column from front to rear," and tossing 
men and parts of men aloft, or hurling them far on one side. 
At length, still steady and unbroken, they came within range 
of the small arms, the rifles of Carroll's Tennesseans, the mus- 
kets of Adair's Kentuckians, four lines of sharpshooters, one 
behind the other. General Carroll, coolly waiting for the right 
moment, held his fire till the enemy were within two hundred 
yards, and then gave the word — 

" Fire !" 

At first with a certain deliberation, afterwards, in hot- 
test haste, always with deadly effect, the riflemen plied their 
terrible weapon. The summit of the embankment was a 
line of spurting fire, except where the great guns showed 
their liquid, belching flash. The noise was peculiar, and al- 
together indescribable ; a rolling, bursting, echoing noise, 
never to be forgotten by a man that heard it. Along the 
whole line it blazed and rolled ; the British batteries shower- 
ing rockets over the scene ; Patterson's batteries on the other 
side of the river joining in the hellish concert. Imagine it. 
Ask no one to describe it. Our words were mostly made be- 
fore such a scene had become possible. 

The column of General Gibbs, mowed by the fire of the 
riflemen, still advanced, Gibbs at its head. As they caught 
sight of the ditch, some of the officers cried out, 

Where are the 44th ? If we get to the ditch, we have 
no means of crossing and scaling the lines ! 



196 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON [1815. 

" Here come the 44tli ! Here come the 44th I" shouted 
the General ; adding, in an undertone, for his own private 
Bolacc, that if he Hved till to-morrow he would hang Mullens 
on the highest tree in the cypress wood. 

Reassured, these heroic men again pressed on, in the face 
of that murderous, slaughtering fire. But this could not last. 
.With half its number fallen, and all its commanding officers 
disabled except the general, its pathway strewed with dead 
and wounded, and the men falling ever faster and faster, the 
colunm wavered and reeled (so the American riflemen thought) 
like a red ship on a tempestuous sea. At about a hundred 
yards from the lines the front ranks halted, and so threw the 
column into disorder, Gibbs shouting in the madness of vexa- 
tion for them to re-form and advance. There was no re-form- 
ins under such a fire. Once checked, the column could not 
but break and retreat in confusion. 

Captain Hill says of this first repulse : " Hastily gallop- 
ing to the scene of confusion, we found the men falling back 
in great numbers. Every possible means were used to rally 
them ; the majority of the retreating party were wounded, 
and one and all bitterly complained "that not a single ladder 
or fascine had been brought up to enable them to cross the 
ditch. A singular illusion, for which I have never been able 
to account, occurred on our nearer approach to the American 
lines : the roar of musketry and cannon seemed to proceed 
from the thipk cypress-wood on our right, whilst the bright 
flashes of fire in our front were not apparently accompanied 
by sound. This strange effect was probably produced by the 
state of the atmosphere and the character of the ground ; but 
I leave the solution of the mystery to time and the curious." 

Just as the troops began to falter, General Pakenham rode 
up from his post in the rear toward the head of the colunm. 

Meeting parties of the 44th running about distracted, 
some carrying fascines, others firing, others in headlong flight, 
their leader nowhere to be seen, Pakenham strove to ~estore 
them to order, and to urge them on the way they weie to go, 

" For shame," he cried bitterly, " recollect that you are 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 197 

British soldiers. This is the road you ought to take 1' point- 
iug to the flashing and roaring hell in front. 

Riding on, he was soon met by General Gibhs, who said, 

" I am sorry to have to report to you that the troops wiU 
not obey me. They will not follow me."* 

Taking off his hat, General Pakenham spurred his horse 
to the very front of the wavering column, amid a torrent of 
rifle balls, cheering on the troops by voice, by gesture, by ex- 
ample. At that moment, a ball shattered his right arm, and 
it fell powerless to his side. The next, his horse fell dead 
upon the field. His aid. Captain M'Dougal, dismounted from 
his black Creole pony, and Pakenham, apparently uncon- 
scious of his dangling arm, mounted again, and followed the 
retreating column, still calling upon them to halt and re-forui. 
A few gallant spirits ran in toward the lines, threw them- 
selves into the ditch, plunged across it, and fell scrambling 
up the sides of the soft and slippery breastwork. 

Once out of the reach of those terrible rifles, the column 
halted and regained its self-possession. Laying aside their 
heavy knapsacks, the men prepared for a second and more 
resolute advance. They were encouraged, too, by seeing the 
superb Highlanders marching up in solid phalanx to their 
support with a front of a hundred men, their bayonets glit- 
tering in the sun, which had then begun to pierce the morning 
mist. Now for an irresistible onset ! At a quicker step, with 
General Gibbs on its right. General Pakenham on the left, 
the Highlanders, in clear and imposing view, the column 
again advanced into the fire. Oh ! the slaughter that then 
ensued ! There was one moment, when that thirty-two 
pounder, loaded to the muzzle with musket balls, poured its 
charge directly, at point-blank range, right into the head of 
the column, literally levelling it with the plain ; laying low, 
as was afterwards computed, two hundred men. The Ameri- 
can line, as one of the British officers remarked, looked like a 
row of fiery furnaces ! 

The heroic Pakenham had not far to go to meet his doom. 
* Court-martial of Lieutenant-Colonel Mullens, p. 10. 



198 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

He was three hundred yards from the lines when the real na- 
ture of his enterprise seemed to flash upon him ; and he 
turned to Sir John Tylden and said, 

" Order up the reserve." 

Then, seeing the Highlanders advancing to the support of 
General Gibbs, he, still waving his hat, but waving it now 
with his left hand, cried out, 

" Hurrah 1 brave Highlanders !" 

At that moment a mass of grape-shot, with a terrible 
crash, struck the group of which he was the central figure. 
One of the shots tore open the General's thigh, killed his 
horse, and brought horse and rider to the ground. Captain 
McDougal caught the general in his arms, removed him from 
the fallen horse, and was supporting him upon the field when 
a second shot struck the wounded man in the groin, depriving 
him instantly of consciousness. He was borne to the rear, 
and placed in the shade of an old live-oak, which still stands ; 
and there, after gasping a few minutes, yielded up his life 
without a word, happily ignorant of the sad issue of all his 
plans and toils. 

A more painful fate was that of General Gibbs, A few 
moments after Pakenham fell Gibbs received his death 
wound, and was carried off the field writhing in agony, and 
uttering fierce imprecations. He lingered all that day and 
the succeeding night, dying in torment on the moiTOw. 
Nearly at the same moment General Keane was painfully 
wounded in the neck and thigh, and was also borne to the 
rear. Colonel Dale, of the Highlanders, fulfilled his proph- 
ecy, and fell at the head of his regiment. The Highlanders, 
under Major Creagh, wavered not, but advanced steadily, and 
too slowly, into the very tempest of General Carroll's fire, 
until they were within one hundred yards of the lines. 
There, for cause unknown, they halted and stood, a huge and 
glittering target, until five hundred and forty-four of their 
number had fallen, then broke and fled in horror and amaze- 
ment to the rear. The column of General Gibbs did not ad- 
vance after the fall of their leader. Leaving heaps of slain 



1815.J THE EIG-HTH OF JANUARY. 199 

behind them, they, •too, forsook the bloody field, rushed in 
utter confusion out of the fire, and took refuge at the bottom 
of wet ditches and behind trees and bushes on the borders of 
the swamp. 

But not all of them ! Major Wilkinson, the " Wilky" 
of a previous page, followed by Lieutenant Lavack and 
twenty men, pressed on to the ditch, floundered across it, 
climbed the breastwork, and raised his head and shoulders 
above its summit, upon which he fell riddled with balls. 
The Tennesseans and Kentuckians defending that part of 
the lines, struck with admiration at such heroic conduct, 
lifted his still breathing body and conveyed it tenderly be- 
hind the works. 

" Bear up, my dear fellow," said Major Smiley, of the 
Kentucky reserve, " you are too brave a man to die." 

" I thank you from my heart," whispered the dying man. 
"It is all over with me. You can render me a favor; 
it is to communicate to my commander that I fell on your 
parapet, and died like a soldier and a true Englishman."* 

Lavack reached the summit of the parapet unharmed, 
though with two shot holes in his cap. He had heard Wil- 
kinson, as they were crossing the ditch, cry out, 

" Now, why don't the troops come on ? The day is our 
own." 

With these last words in his ears, and not looking behind 
him, he had no sooner gained the breastwork than he de- 
manded the swords of two American officers, the first he 
caught sight of in the lines. 

"Oh, ^0," replied one of them, "you are alone, and, 
therefore, ought to consider yourself our prisoner." 

Then Lavack looked around and saw, what is best de- 
scribed in his own language : 

"Now," he would say, as he told the story afterwards to 
his comrades, " conceive my indignation, on looking round, 
to find that the two leading regiments had vanished as if 
the earth had opened and sioallowed them up."-\ 

* Jackson and New Orleans, p. 332. f Captain Cooke's Narrative, p. 256. 



200 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

The earth had swallowed them up, or was waiting to do 
so, and the brave Lavack was a prisoner. Lieutenant Lavack 
further declared, that when he first looked down behind the 
American lines he saw the riflemen " flying in a disorderly- 
mob ;" which all other witnesses deny. Doubtless there was 
some confusion there, as every man was fighting his own bat- 
tle, and there was much struggling to get to the rampart to 
fire, and from the rampart to load. Moreover, if the lines 
bad been surmounted by the foe, a backward movement on 
the part of the defenders would have been in order and neces- 
sary. 

Thus, then, it fared with the attack on the weakest 
part of the American position. Let us see what success re- 
warded the enemy's efforts against the strongest. 

Colonel Rennie, when he saw the signal rocket ascend, 
pressed on to the attack with such rapidity that the Ameri- 
can outposts along the river had to run for it — Rennie's van- 
guard close upon their heels. Indeed, so mingled seemed 
pursuers and pursued, that Captain Humphrey had to with- 
hold his fire for a few minutes for fear of sweeping down 
friend and foe. As the last of the Americans leaped down 
into the isolated redoubt, British soldiers began to mount its 
sides. A brief hand-to-hand conflict ensued within the re- 
doubt between the party defending it and the British ad- 
vance. In a surprisingly short time, the Americans, over- 
powered by numbers, and astounded at the suddenness of the 
attack, fled across the plank, and climbed over into safety 
behind the lines. Then was poured into the redoubt a deadly 
and incessant fire, which cleared it of the foe in less time than 
it had taken them . to capture it ; while Humphrey, with his 
great guns, mowed down the still advancing column ; and 
Patterson, from the other side of the river, added the fire of 
his powerful batteries. 

Brief was the unequal contest. Colonel Rennie, Captain 
Henry, Major King, three only of this column, reached the 
summit of the rampart near the river's edge. 

" Hurrah, boys I" cried Rennie, already wounded, as the 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 201 

three officers gained the breastwork, "Hurrah, boys 1 the day 
is ours." 

At that moment Beale's New Orleans sharpshooters, with- 
drawing a few paces for better aim, fired a volley, and the 
three noble soldiers fell headlong into the ditch. 

That was the end of it. Flight, tumultuous flight — some 
running on the top of the levee, some under it, others down 
the road ; while Patterson's guns played upon them still with 
terrible effect. The three slain officers were brought out of 
the canal behind the lines ; when, we are told, a warm dis- 
cussion arose among the Kifles for the honor of having 
" brought down the Colonel." Mr. Withers, a merchant of 
New Orleans, and the crack shot of the company, settled the 
controversy by remarking, 

"If he isn't hit above the eyebrows, it wasn't my shot." 

Upon examining the lifeless form of Rennie, it was found 
that the flxtal wound was, indeed, in the forehead. To With- 
ers, therefore, was assigned the duty of sending the watch 
and other valuables found upon the person of the fallen hero 
to his widow, who was in the fleet ofl' Lake Borgne. * 

A pleasanter story, connected with the advance of Colonel 
Eennie's column, is related by the same author. "As the de- 
tachments along the road advanced, their bugler, a boy of 
fourteen or fifteen, climbing a small tree within two hundred 
yards of the American lines, straddled a limb, and continued 
to blow the charge with all his power. There he remained 
during the whole action, whilst the cannon balls and bullets 
plowed the ground around him, killed scores of men, and tore 
even the branches of the tree in which he sat. Above the 
thunder of the artillery, the rattling of fire, the musketry, 
and all the din and uproar of the strife, the shrill blast of the 
little bugler could be heard, and even when his companions 
had fallen back and retreated from the field, he continued 
true to his duty, and blew the charge with undiminished 
vigor. At last, when the British had entirely abandoned the 
ground, an American soldier, passing from the lines, captured 

* Jackson and New Orleans, page 331. 



202 LIFE OF ANDBEW JACKSON. [1815. 

the little bugler and brought him into camp, where he was 
gi-eatly astonished when some of the enthusiastic Creoles, who 
had observed his gallantry, actually embraced him, and offi- 
cers and men vied with each other in acts of kindness to so 
gallant a little soldier." 

The reserve, under General Lambert, was never ordered 
up Major Tylden obeyed the last order of his general, and 
General Lambert had directed the bugler to sound the ad- 
vance. A chance shot struck the bugler's uplifted arm, and 
the instrument fell to the ground. The charge was never 
Bounded. General Lambert brought forward his division far 
enough to cover the retreat of the broken columns, and to de- 
ter General Jackson from attempting a sortie. The chief 
command had fallen upon Lambert, and he was overwhelmed 
by the unexpected and fearful issue of the battle. 

It remains to allow Captain Cooke to complete his narra- 
tive of the adventures of his party of two hundred. The 
firing began at length. 

" The first objects we saw, inclosed as we were in this little world of 
mist, were the cannon-balls tearing up the ground and crossing one another, 
and bounding along like so many cricket-balls through the air, coming on 
oiu- left flank from the American batteries on the light bank of the river, 
and also from their lines in our front. 

" At this momentous crisis a droll occurrence took place ; a company of 
blacks emerged out of the mist, carrying ladders, which were intended for 
the three light companies of the left attack, but these Ethiopians were so 
confounded at the multiplicity of noises, that without further ado they 
dropped the ladders and fell flat on their faces, and without doubt, had 
their claws been of suSicient length, they would have scratched holes and 
buried themselves from such an unpleasant admixture of sounds and con- 
catenation of iron projectiles, which seemed at war one with the othei, 
coming from two opposite directions at one and the same time. 

" To see the ladders put on the shoulders of these poor creatures," wno 
were nipped by the cold, excited our greatest astonishment, knowing that 
it requires the very elite of an army for such an undertaking ; for soldiers 
that will place ladders under a heavy fire are capable of any thing, as it re- 
quires the most desperate eflforts to lug them along over broken ground, 
dilches, and other obstacles, the men all the while falling from the eflfects 
of the enemy's balls ; sometimes one end of the ladder comes to the ground 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 203 

without supporters, and then the other. For if the difficult operation takes 
place in the day-time, the enemy point all their engines of destruction at 
those carrying the ladders ; the troops are excited ; those that are left rush 
forward to grapple with difficulties not to be surmounted without assist- 
ance, at a time when the supporters of the ladders have let them drop, irri- 
tated and suffering from the pain of their wounds, others having fallen to 
rise no more. And probably out of ten or twenty ladders only two or three 
out of the whole can be raised against the enemy's parapets. On the other 
hand, if such an operation takes place at night, the least obstacle stops the 
progress of those carrying them, the soldiers fall, the ladders lay upon the 
ground, and are lost during the dreadful confusion. These evils in war are 
out of the pale of all theory. The operation must be seen to be well un- 
derstood, and I know of no rule except by selecting men of the most tried 
courage, and gifted with the most persevering and undaunted resolution, 
and if they fall, the operation must be left to the energy of the storming 
party. But, taken as a whole, it is one of the most difficult of all enter- 
prises, and of this the practical engineer officer is aware as well as my- 
self, having seen in Spain and elsewhere the difficulty of raising ladders 
against walls, when Avell opposed, and also the great numbers dropped and 
left lying about even by the most veteran troops. 

" If these blacks were only intended to carry the ladders to the three 
light companies on the left, they wei-e too late. The great bulk of them 
were cut to pieces before the ladders were within reach of them, even if 
the best troops in the world had been carrying them they would not have 
been up in time. This was very odd, and more than odd ; it looked as if 
folly stalked abroad in the English camp. One or two officers went to the 
front in search of some responsible person to obtain orders ad interim ; 
Qndmg myself the senior officer, I at once making a double, as it were, or 
as Napoleon recommended, marched to the spot where the heaviest firing 
was going on ; at a run we neared the American lines. The mist was 
now rapidly clearing away, but owing to the dense smoke we could not 
at first well distinguish the attacking columij of the British troops to our 
right. 

" We now also caught a view of the seventh and the forty -third regi- 
ments in echelon on our right, near the wood, the royal fusileers being 
within about three hundred yards of the enemy's lines, and the forty-third 
deploying into line two hundred yards in echelon behind the fusileers. 
These two regiments were every now and then almost enveloped by the 
(jlouds of smoke that hung over their heads and floated on their flanks, for 
the echo from the cannonade and musketry was so tremendous in the for- 
ests tliat the vibration seemed as if the earth was cracking and tumbling 
to pieces, or as if the heavens were rent asunder by the most terrific peals of 
thunder that ever rumbled; it was the most awful and the grandest mixture 



204 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

of sounds to be conceived ; the woods seemed to crack to an interminable 
distance, each cannon report was answered one hundredfold, and produced 
an intermingled roar surpassing strange. And this phenomenon can neither 
be fancied nor described, save by those who can bear evidence of the fact. 
And tlie flashes of fire looked as if coming out of the bowels of the earth, 
so little above its surface were the batteries of the Americans. 

" We had run the gauntlet from the left to the center in front of the 
American lines, under a cross fire, in hopes of joining in the assault, and 
had a fine view of the sparkling of the musketry and the liquid flashes 
from the cannon. And melancholy to relate, all at once many soldiers were 
met wildly rushing out of the dense clouds of smoke lighted up. by a spark- 
ling sheet of fire which hovered over the ensanguined field. Eegimenta 
were shattered, broke, and dispersed — all order was at an end. And the 
dismal spectacle was seen of the dark shadows of men, like skirmishers, 
breaking out of the clouds of smoke which slowly and majestically rolled 
along the even surface of the field, ^nd so astonished was I at such a 
panic that I said to a retiring soldier, ' have we or the Americans attacked?' 
for I had never seen troops in sucli a hurry without being followed. ' No,' 
replied the man, with the countenance of despair and out of breath, as he run 
along, ' we attacked, sir.' For still the reverberation was so intense towards 
the great wood that any one would have thought the great fighting was 
going on there instead of immediately in front. 

" Lieutenant Duncan Campbell, of our regiment, was seen to our left 
running about in circles, first staggering one way, then another, and at 
length fell on the sod helplessly upon his face, and in this state several times 
recovered his legs, and again tumbled, and when he was picked up he was 
found to be blind from the effects of a grape-shot that had torn open his 
forehead, giving him a slight wound in the leg, and had also ripped the 
scabbard from his side and knocked the cap from his head. While being 
borne insensible to the rear, he still clenched the hilt of his sword with a 
convulsive grasp, the blade thereof being broken off" close at the hilt with 
grape-shot, and in a state -of delirium and suff"ering he hved for a few 
days. 

" The first officer we met was Lieutenant Colonel Stovin, of the staff", 
who was unhorsed, Avithout his hat, and bleeding down the left side of hia 
face. lie at first thought that the two hundred men were the whole regi- 
ment, and he said, ' forty-third, for God's sake, save the day!' Lieutenant 
Colonel Smith, of the rifles and one of Packenham's staff, then rode up at 
full gallop from the right (he had a few months before brought to England 
the dispatches of the capture of Washington), and said to me, ' Did you ever 
see such a scene ? There is nothing left but the seventh and forty-third ! 
just draw up here for a few minutes to show front, that the repulsed troopa 
may re-form.' For the chances now were, as the greater portion of the ac- 



]815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 205 

tually attacking corps were stricken down, and the remainder dispersed, that 
the Americans would become the assailants. The ill-fated rocket was dis- 
charged before the British troops moved on, the consequence was that every 
American gun was warned by such a silly signal to be laid on the parapeta 
ready to be discharged with the fullest efiects. 

" The misty field of battle was now inundated with wounded officers 
and soldiers, who were going to the rear from the right, left^ and center, in 
fact; little more than one thousand soldiers were left unscathed out of the 
three thousand that attacked the American lines, and they fell like the 
very blades of grass beneath the scythe of the mower. Packenham was 
kiUed, Gibbs was mortally wounded, and his brigade dispersed like tho 
dust before the whirlwind, and Keane was wounded. The command of 
his Majesty's forces at this critical juncture now fell to Major General 
Lambert, the only general left, and who Avas in reserve with his fino 
brigade. 

" With the exception of two hundred soldiers under my orders, in the 
center there was hardly a man formed all the way to the bank of the Mis- 
sissippi, or any reserve ready to resist, for nearly the space of half a mile 
of ground, which was immediately in front of the whole of the right and 
the center of the American barricade, or to hinder them from dashing up 
the high road to the canal and the place where Colonel Thornton had em- 
barked with his force, for the passage of the river. 

" Had the Americans only advanced, the probability would have been 
by this movement that they would have got one mile behind the seventh 
and the forty-third regiments, and the fugitives that had retired into the 
swampy wood ; and had they succeeded in beating back tlie soldiers under 
my orders, and some sixty or seventy soldiers under the orders of Lieuten- 
ant Hutchinson of the royal fusileers, who clung round the left battery after 
retreating from the crescent battery, when he found nearly all his men 
killed or wounded, and that the principal attack had utterly failed, and 
himself left without any support. 

" The rifle corps individually took post to resist any forward movement 
of the enemy, but the ground already named being under a cross fire of at 
least twenty pieces of artillery, the advantage was all on the side of the 
Americans, who in a crowd might have completely run down a few scat- 
tered troops exposed to such an overpowering force of artillery. 

" The black troops behaved in the most shameful manner to a man, and, 
although hardly exposed to fire, were in utter and abominable consterna- 
tion, and lying down in all directions, and amongst them the white feather 
nodded triumphant. One broad beaver with the ample folds of the coarse 
blanket thrown across the shoulders of the American was as terrible in 
their eyes as a panther might be whilst springing amongst a timid multi- 
tude. These black corps, it was said, had behaved well at some West 



206 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1815. 

India Islands, where the thermometer was more congenial to their 
feelings." 

»*■**** ***♦ 

" As soon as the action was over, and some troops were formed in our 
rear, we then, under a smart fire of grape and round-shot, moved to the 
right and joined our own corps, who had been ordered to lay down at tlie 
edge of a ditch ; arid some of the old soldiers, with rage depicted on th(.-ir 
countenances, were demanding why they were not led on to the assault. 

" The fire of the Americans from behind their barricade had been in- 
deed most murderous, and had caused so sudden a repulse that it was dif- 
ficult to persuade ourselves that such an event had happened — the whole 
affair being more Hke a dream, or some scene of enchantment, than 
reality." 

Like a dream, indeed. How long a time, does the reader 
tliink, elapsed between the fire of the first American gun and 
the total rout of the attacking columns ? Twenty-five 
MINUTES ! Not that the American fire ceased, or even slack- 
ened, at the expiration of that period. The riflemen on the 
left, and the troops on the right, continued to discharge their 
weapons into the smoke that hung over the plain for tw^o 
hours. But in the space of twenty-five minutes the discom- 
fiture of the enemy in the open field was complete. The bat- 
tery alone still made resistance. It required two hours of a 
tremendous cannonade to silence its great guns, and drive 
its defenders to the rear. 

The scene behind the American works during the fire can 
be easily imagined. One half of the army never fired a shot. 
The battle was fought at the two extremities of the lines. 
The battalions of Planch^, Dacquin and Lacoste, the whole 
of the forty-fourth regiment, and one half of Coffee's Tennes- 
scans, had nothing to do but to stand still at their posts, and 
chafe with vain impatience for a chance to join in the fight. 
The batteries alone at the center of the works contributed 
any thing to the fortunes of the day. Yet, no; that is not 
quite correct. " The moment the British came into view, 
and their signal rocket pierced the sky with its fiery train, the 
band of the Battalion D'Orleans struck up ' Yankee Doodle ;' 
and thenceforth, throughout the action, it did not cease to 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF J A X U A B Y. . 207 

discourse all tbe national and military airs in -whicli it had 
Deen instructed." * 

When the action began, Jackson walked along the left of 
the lines, speaking a few words of good cheer to the men as 
he passed the several corps. 

" Stand to your guns. Don't waste your ammunition. 
See that every shot tells." " Give it to them, boys. Let us 
finish the business to-day." 

Such words as these escaped him now and then ; the men 
not engaged cheering him as he went by. As the battle be- 
came general, he took a position on ground slightly elevated, 
near the center, which commanded a view of the scene. 
There, with mien composed and mind Intensely excited, ho 
watched the progress of the strife. When it became evident 
that the enemy's columns were finally broken, Major Hinds, 
whose dragoons were drawn up in the rear, entreated the Gen 
eral for jiermission to dash out upon them in pursuit, H 
was a tempting ofier to such a man as Jackson. In the in- 
toxication of such a moment, most born fighters could no' 
but have said, Have at them, then ! But prudence prevailed, 
and the request was refused. 

" My reason for refusing," he would afterwards say, in 
conversation, " was that it might become necessary to sustain 
him, and thus a contest in the open field be brought on : the 
lives of my men were of value to their country, and much too 
dear to their families to be hazarded where necessity did not 
require it ; but, above all, from the numerous dead and 
wounded stretched out on the field before me, I felt a confi- 
dence that the safety of the city was most probably attained, 
and hence that nothing calculated to reverse the good fortune 
we had met should be attempted."f 

At eight o'clock, there being no signs of a renewed attack, 
and no enemy in sight, an order was sent along the lines to 
cease firing with the small arms. The General, surrounded 
by his staif, then walked from end to end of the works, 

* Jackson and New Orleans, p. 338. f Eaton, p. 3"?!, 



208- LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

stopping at each battery and post, and addressing a few words 
of congratulation and praise to tlieir defenders. It was a 
proud, glad moment for these nien, when, panting from their 
two hours' labor, blackened with smoke and sweat, they list- 
ened to the General's burning words, and saw the light of 
victory in his countenance. With particular warmth he 
thanked and commended Beale's little band of riflemen, the 
companies of the seventh, and Humphrey's artillerymen, who 
had so gallantly beaten back the column of Colonel Rennie. 
Heartily, too, he extolled the wonderful firing of the divisions 
of General Carroll and Gt^neral Adair ; not forgetting Coffee, 
who had dashed out upon the black skirmishers in the swamp, 
and driven them out of sight in ten minutes. 

This joyful ceremony over, the artillery, which had con- 
tinued to play upon the British batteries, ceased their fire 
for the guns to cool and the dense smoke to roll off. The 
whole army crowded to the parapet, and looked over into the 
field. What a scene was gradually disclosed to them ! That 
gorgeous and imposing military array, the two columns of 
attack, the Highland phalanx, the distant reserve, all had 
vanished like an apparition. Far away down the plain, the 
glass revealed a faint red line still receding. Nearer to the 
lines, " we could see," says ISTolte, " the British troops con- 
cealing themselves behind the shrubbery, or throwing them- 
selves into the ditches and gullies. In some of the latter 
indeed they lay so thickly that they were only distinguishable 
in the distance by the white shoulder belts, which formed a 
line along the top of their hiding place." 

Still nearer, the plain was covered and heaped with dead 
and wounded, as well as with those who had fallen paralyzed 
by fear alone. " I never had," Jackson would say, " so grand 
and awful an idea of the resurrection as on that day. After 
the smoke of the battle had cleared off somewhat, I saw in 
the distanc3 more than five hundred Britons emerging from 
the heaps of their dead comrades, all over the plain, rising 
up, and still more distinctly visible as the field became 
clearer, coming forward and surrendering as prisoners of wai 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 209 

to our soldiers. They had fallen at our first fire upon them, 
without having received so much as a scratch, and lay pros- 
trate, as if dead, until the close of the action." 

The American army, to their credit be it repeated, were 
appalled and silenced at the scene before them. The writh- 
ings of the wounded, their shrieks and groans, their convul- 
sive and sudden tossing of limbs, were horrible to see and 
hear. Seven hundred killed, fourteen hundred wounded, five 
hundred prisoners, were the dread result of that twenty-live 
minutes' work. Jackson's loss, as all the world knows, was 
eight killed and thirteen wounded. Two men were killed at 
the left of the lines, two in the isolated redoubt, four in the 
swamp pursuing the skirmishers. 

" The field," says Mr. Walker, " was so thickly strewn 
with the dead, that from the American ditch you could have 
walked a quarter of a mile to the front on the bodies of the 
killed and disabled. The space in front of Carroll's position, 
for an extent of two hundred yards, was literally covered with 
the slain. The course of the column could be distinctly traced 
in the broad red line of the victims of the terrible -batteries 
and unerring guns of the Americans. They fell in their 
tracks : in some places, whole platoons lay together, as if 
killed by the same discharge. Dressed in their gay uniforms, 
cleanly shaved and attired for the promised victory and tri- 
umphal entry into the city, these stalwart men lay on the 
gory field, frightful examples of the horrors of war. Strangely, 
indeed, did they contrast with those ragged, unshorn, be- 
gi'imed and untidy, strange-looking, long-haired men, .vho, 
crowding the American parapet, surveyed and commented 
upon the terrible destruction they had caused. There was 
not a private among the slain whose aspect did not present 
mors of the pomp and circumstance of war than any of the 
commanders of the victors. In the ditch there were no less 
than forty dead, and at least a hundred who were wounded, 
or who had thrown themselves into it for shelter. On the 
edge of the woods there were many who, being slightly 
wounded, or unable to reach the rear, had concealed them- 

VOL. II. — 14 



210 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

selves under tlie Lrusli and in the trees. It was pitiable, indeedj 
to see the writhings of the disabled and mutilated, and to 
hear their terrible cries for help and water, which arose from 
every quarter of the plain. As this scene of death, desolation, 
bloodshed and suffering, came into full view of the American 
lines, a j^rofouud and melancholy silence pervaded the victori- 
ous army. No sounds of exultation or rejoicing were now 
heard. Pity and sympathy had succeeded to the boisterous 
and savage feelings which a few minutes before had possessed 
their souls. They saw no longer the presumptuous, daring, 
and insolent invader, who had come four thousand miles to 
lay waste a peaceful country ; they forgot their own suifering 
and losses, and the barbarian threats of the enemy, and now 
only perceived humanity, fellow-creatures in their own form, 
reduced to the most helpless, miserable, and pitiable of all 
conditions of suffering, desolation and distress. Prompted by 
this motive, many of the Americans stole without leave from 
their positions, and with their canteens proceeded to assuage 
the thirst and render other assistance to the wounded. The 
latter, and those who were captured in the ditch, were led 
into the lines, where the wounded received prompt attention 
from Jackson's medical staff. Many of the Americans carried 
their disabled enemies into the camp on their backs, as the 
pious Eneas bore his feeble parent from burning Troy." 

Others, again, of the victorious army wandered over the 
field in search of trophies and mementos of the victory. Pack- 
enhara's glass, Keane's sword, the bugles of General Gibbs' 
and General Keane's divisions, a thousand stand of arms, 
belts, swords, scabbards, chapeaus, accouterments of all de- 
scriptions, were hastily gathered and brought in. 

But all this was soon over. It was still possible to annoy 
the enemy with cannon balls, as large numbers of the soldiers 
weie still lying in the ditches and among the shrubbery, not 
daring to run out of range. The cannonade recommenced. 
" For five hours," says Captain Cooke, " the enemy plied us 
with grape and round shot. Some of the wounded, lying in 
the mud or on the wet grass, managed to crawl away ; but 



1815.] THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 211 

every now and then some unfortunate man was lifted off the 
ground by round shot, and lay killed or mangled. During 
the tedious hours we reniained in front it was necessary to 
lie on the ground to cover ourselves from the projectiles. An 
officer of our regiment was in a reclining posture, when a 
gi-apeshot passed through both his kness ; at first he sank 
back faintly, but at length opening his eyes and looking at 
his wounds, he said, ' Carry me away, I am chilled to death ;' 
and as he was hoisted on the men's shoulders more round and 
grape-shot passed his head ; taking off his cap, he waved it, 
and after many narrow escapes got out of range, suffered am- 
putation of both legs, but died of his wounds on board ship, 
after enduring all the pain of the surgical operation, and pass- 
ing down the lake in an open boat. 

'' A wounded soldier, who was lying amongst the slain two 
hundred yards behind us, continued without any cessation, 
for two hours, to raise his arm up and down with a con- 
vulsive motion, which excited the most painful sensations 
amongst us, and as the enemy's balls every now and then 
killed or maimed some soldiers, we could not help casting our 
eyes towards the moving arm, which really was a dreadful 
magnet of attraction : it even caught the attention of the 
enemy, who, without seeing the body, fired several round shot 
at it. A black soldier lay near us, who had received a blow 
from a cannon-ball, which had obliterated all his features, 
and although blind, and suffering the most terrible anguish, 
he was employing himself in scratching a hole to put his 
money into, A tree, about two feet in diameter and fifteen 
in height, with a few scattered branches at the top, was the 
only object to break the monotonous scene. This tree was 
near the right of our regiment ; the Americans, seeing some 
persons clustering around it, fired a thirty-two pound shot, 
which struck the tree exactly in the centre, and buried itself 
in the trunk with a loud concussion. Curiosity prompted 
some of us to take a hasty inspection of it, and I could clearly 
Bee the rusty ball within the tree. I thrust my arm in a little 
above the elbow-joint, and laid hold of it ; it was truly amus- 



212 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

ing, between the intervals of firing the camion, to witness the 
risks continually run by the officers to take a peep at this 
good shot. Owing to this circumstance^ the vicinity of the 
tree became rather a hot berth ; but the American gunners 
failed to hit it a second time, although some balls passed very 
near on each side, and for about an hour it was a source of 
excessive jocularity to us." 

General Jackson had no sooner finished his round of con- 
gratulations, and beheld the completeness of his victory on 
the eastern bank, than he began to cast anxious glances across 
the river, wondering at the silence of Morgan's lines and 
Patterson's guns. They flashed and spoke, at length. Jack- 
son and Adair, mounting the breastwork, saw Thornton's 
column advancing to the attack, and saw Morgan's men 
open fire upon them vigorously. All is well, thought Jackson. 

" Take off your hats and give them three cheers !" shouted 
the General, though Morgan's division was a mile and a half 
distant.'' 

The order was obeyed, and the whole army watched the 
action with intense interest, not doubting that the gallant 
Kentuckians and Louisianians, on that side of the river, 
would soon drive back the British column, as they them- 
selves had just driven back those of Gibbs and Kennie. 
These men had become used to seeing British columns recoil 
and vanish before their fire. Not a thought of disaster on 
the western bank crossed their elated minds. , 

* Letter of General Jackson to General Adair, July, 1817. — Kentucky Bff 
porter. 



1815.] THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. 213 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. 

Yet Thornton carried the day on the western bank. 
Even while the men were in the act of cheering, General 
Jackson saw, with mortification and disgust, never forgotten 
by him while he drew breath, the division under General 
Morgan abandon their position and run in headlong flight 
toward the city. Clouds of smoke soon obscured the scene. 
But the flashes of the musketry advanced U'p the river, 
disclosing to General Adair and his men the humiliating 
fact that their comrades had not rallied, but were still in 
swift retreat before the foe. In a moment the elation of 
General Jackson's troops was changed to anger and appre- 
hension. 

Fearing the worst consequences, and fearing them with 
reason, the General leaped down from the breastwork, and 
made instant preparations for sending over a powerful rein- 
forcement. At all hazards the western bank must be regained. 
All is lost if it be not. Let but the enemy have free course 
up the western bank, with a mortar and a twelve pounder, 
and New Orleans will be at their mercy in two hours ! Nay, 
let Commodore Patterson but leave one of his guns unspiked, 
and Jackson's lines, raked by it from river to swamp, are un- 
tenable ! All this, which was immediately apparent to the 
mind of General Jackson, was understood also by all of his 
army who had reflected upon their position. 

The story of the mishap is soon told. At half past four 
in the morning Colonel Thornton stepped ashore on the west- 
ern bank, at a point about four miles below General Morgan's 
lines. By the time all his men were ashore and formed the 
day had dawned, and the flashing of guns on the eastern bank 
announced that General Packenham had begun his attack. 
At double-quick step Thornton began his march along the 



214 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

levee, sui^jjorted by three small gun-boats in the river, that 
kept abreast of his column. He came up first with a strong 
outpost, consisting of a hundred and twenty Louisianians, 
under Major Arnaud, who had tlirown up a small breastwork 
in the night, and then fallen asleep, leaving one sentinel on 
guard, A shower of grape-shot from one of the gun-boats 
roused Arnaud's company from their ill-timed slumber. 
These men, taken by surprise, made no resistance, but awoke 
only to fly toward the main body. And this was right. 
There was nothing else for them to do. To place them in 
such a position was absurd enough ; but being there, their 
only course was to retreat on the approach of the enemy in 
such order as they could. 

Thornton next descried Colonel Davis' two hundred Ken- 
tuckians ; the Kentuckian-s who were to be immortalized by 
an act of hasty injustice. These men, worn out, as we have 
seen, by hunger and fatigue, reached Morgan's lines about the 
hour of Colonel Thornton's landing. Inmiediately, withouJ; 
rest or refreshment, they were ordered to march down the 
river until they met the enemy ; then engage him ; defeat 
him if they could ; retreat to the lines if they could not. 
This order, ill-considered as it was, was obeyed hy tliem to 
the letter^' Meeting the men of Major Arnaud's conmiand 
running breathlessly to the rear, they still kej)t on, until, see- 
ing Thornton's column advancing, they halted, and formed in 
the open field to receive it. Upon being attacked, they made 
a better resistance than could have been reasonably expected. 
The best armed among them fired seven rounds upon the 
enemy ; the worst armed, three rounds. Effectual resistance 
being manifestly impossible, they obeyed the orders they had 
received, and fell back (in disorder, of course) to the lines, 
having killed and wounded several of the enemy, and for a 
few minutes checked his advance. On reaching the lines, 
they were ordered to take post on the right, where the lines 
consisted merely of a ditch and of the earth that had been 

* Letter of General Adair to General Jackson, 1817, in Kentucky Reporter. 



1815.] THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. 21.') 

thrown out of it, a work which loft them exposed to the eii- 
emy/s fire from the waist upward. 

Colonel Thornton having now arrived within seven hun- 
dred yards of General Morgan's position, halted his force for 
the purpose of reconnoitering and making his last prepara- 
tions for the assault. He saw at once the weakness of that 
part of the lines which the Kentuckians defended. And not 
only that. Beyond the Kentuckians there was a portion of 
the swampy wood, practicable for troops, wholly undefended ! 
The result of his reconnoitering, therefore, was a determina- 
tion, as Thornton himself says in his dispatch, now before 
me, "^0 turn the right of the enemy' s position.'" Observe his 
words : " I accordingly detached two divisions of the eighty- 
fifth, under Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Gubbins, to effect that 
object," (of turning the right ;) '• while Captain Money, of the 
royal navy, with one hundred sailors, threatened the enemy's 
left, supported by the division of the eighty-fifth, under Cap- 
tain Schaw." The brunt of the battle was, therefore, to be 
borne by our defenceless Kentuckians, while the strong part 
of the lines was to be merely " threatened" with a squad of 
sailors and a party of the eighty-fifth. 

The result was precisely what Thornton expected, and 
what was literally inevitable. The bugle sounded the charge. 
Under a shower of screaming rockets, the British troops and 
sailors advanced to the attack. A well-directed fire of grape- 
shot from Morgan's guns made great havoc among the sailors 
on the right, and compelled them first to pause, and then re- 
coil, Captain Money, their commander, falling wounded. But 
Colonel Gubbins, with the main strength of Thornton's force, 
marched to\vard the extreme left, firing u|)on the Kentuck- 
ians, and turning their 2^osition, according to Thornton's plan. 
At the same moment, Thornton, in person, rallying the sail- 
ors, led them up to the battery. The Kentuckians, seeing 
themselves about to bo hemmed in between two bodies of the 
enemy, and exposed to a fire both in front and rear, fired three 
rounds, and then took to flight. Three minutes more and 
they would have been prisoners. Armed as they were, and 



216 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1815. 

posted as they were, the defense of their position against three 
hundred perfectly armed and perfectly disciplined troops- was 
a moral impossibility, and almost a physical one. They fled, 
as raw militia generally fly, in wild panic and utter confusion, 
and never stopped running until they had reached an old 
mill-race two miles up the river, where they halted and made 
a show of forming. 

The flight of the Kentuckians was decisive upon the issue 
of the action. The Louisianians held their ground until they 
saw that the enemy, having gained the abandoned lines, 
were about to attack them in the rear. Then, having fired 
eight rounds, and killing or wounding a hundred of the en- 
emy, they had no chance but to join in the retreat. In bet- 
ter order than the Kentuckians, they fell back to a point near 
which the Louisiana was anchored, half a mile behind the 
lines, where they halted and assisted the sailors to tow the 
ship higher up the stream. 

Commodore Patterson, in his battery on the levee, three 
hundred yards in the rear of Morgan's position, witnessed the 
flight of the Kentuckians and the retreat of the Louisianians 
with fury. As he had retained but thirty sailors in his bat- 
tery, just enough to work the few guns that could be pointed 
down the road, the retreat of Morgan's division involved the 
immediate abandonment of his own batteries — the batteries 
of which he had grown so fond and so j)roud, and which had 
done so much for the success of the campaign. In the rage 
of the moment, he cried out to a midshipman standing near 
a loaded gun with a lighted match — 

"Fire your piece into the d d cowards !" 

The youth was about to obey the order when the Com- 
modore recovered his self-^)ossession and arrested the uplifted 
arm.* With admirable calmness, he caused every cannon to 
be spiked, threw all his ammunition into the river, and then 
walked to the rear with his friend Shepherd, now cursing the 
Kentuckians, now cursing the British — the worst-tempered 
Commodore then extant. 

* Jackson and New Orleans, p. 354. 



1815.] THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. 217 

Colonel Thornton, severely wounded in the assault, had 
strength enough to reach Morgan's redoubt ; but there, over- 
come by the anguish of his Nvound, he was compelled to give 
up the command of the troops to Colonel Gubbins, Ignorant 
as yet of General Pakenham's fall, he sent over to him a 
modest dispatch announcing his victory; and, soon after, was 
obliged to re-cross the river and go into the hospital. 

And thus, by ten o'clock, the British were masters of the 
westevu bank, although, owing to the want of available artil- 
lery, their triumph, for the moment, was a fruitless one. On 
one of the guns captured in General Morgan's lines the vic- 
tors read this inscription : " Taken at the surrender of York- 
town, 1781." In a tent behind the lines they found the 
ensign of one of the Louisiana regiments, which still hangs in 
Whitehall, London, bearing these words : " Taken at the 
Battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8th, 1815." 

General Lambert, stunned by the events of the morning, 
was morally incapable of improving this important success. 
And it was well for him and for his army that he was so. 
Soldiers there have been who would have seen in Thornton's 
triumph the means of turning the tide of disaster and snatch- 
ing victory from the jaws of defeat. But General Lambert 
found himself suddenly invested with the command of an 
army which, besides having lost a third of its effective force, 
was almost destitute of field officers. The mortality among 
the higher grade of officers had been frightful. Three major- 
generals, eight colonels and lieutenant-colonels, six majors, 
eighteen captains, iifty-four subalterns, were among the killed 
and wounded. In such circumstances, Lambert, instead of 
hurrying over artillery and reinforcements, and marching on 
New Orleans, did a less spirited, but a wiser thing : he sent 
over an officer to survey General Morgan's lines, and ascertain 
Low many men would be required to hold them. In other 
words, he sent over an officer to bring him back a plausible 
excuse for abandoning Colonel Thornton's conquest. And 
durins: the absence of the officer on this errand the British 
general resolved upon a measure stiU more pacific. 



218 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSOi^. [1815. 

General Jackson, meanwhile, was intent upon dispatching 
his reinforcements. It never, for one moment, occurred to his 
warlike mind that the British general would relinquish so 
vital an advantage without a desperate struggle, and, accord- 
ingly, he prepared for a desperate struggle. Organizing 
p] omptly a strong body of troops, he placed it under the com- 
mand of General Humbert, a refugee officer of distinction, 
who had led the French revolutionary expedition into Ireland 
in 1798, and was then serving in the lines as a volunteer. 
Humbert, besides being the only general officer that Jackson 
could spare from his own position, was a soldier of high re- 
pute and known courage, a martinet in discipline, and a man 
versed in the arts of European warfare. About eleven o'clock 
(as I conjecture) the reinforcement left the camp, with orders 
to hasten across the river by the ferry at New Orleans, and 
march down towards the enemy, and, after eifecting a junc- 
tion with General Morgan's troops, to attack him and drive 
him from the lines. Before noon, Humbert was well on his 
way. 

Soon after midday, some American troops who were walk- 
ing about the blood-stained field in front of Jackson's position 
perceived a British party of novel aspect approaching. It con- 
sisted of an officer in full uniform, a trumpeter, and a soldier 
bearing a white flag. Halting at the distance of three hun- 
dred yards from the breastwork, the trumpeter blew a blast 
upon his bugle, which brought the whole army to the edge 
of the parapet, gazing with eager curiosity upon this unex- 
pected but not unwelcome spectacle. Colonel Butler and 
two other officers were immediately dispatched by General 
Jackson to receive the message thus announced. After an 
exchange of courteous salutations, the British officer handed 
Colonel Butler a letter directed to the American Commander- 
in-Chief, which proved to be a proposal for an armistice of 
twenty-four hours, that the dead might be buried and the 
wounded removed from the field. The letter was signed 
"Lambert," a device, as was conjectured, to conceal from 
Jackson the death of the British general-in-command. 



1815.] THE OTHER SIDE OF THE lilVER. 219 

The sprinkling of canny Scottish blood that flowed in 
Jackson's veins asserted itself on this occasion. Time was now 
an all-important object with him, since Humbert and his 
command could not yet have crossed the river, and Jackson's 
whole soul was bent to the regaining of the western bank, 

" Lambert ?" thought the General. " Who is Lambert ? 
An untitled Lambert is not the individual for the command- 
er-in-chief of this army to negotiate with." 

Colonel Butler was ordered to return to the flag of truce, 
and to say, that Major-General Jackson would be happy to 
receive any communication from the commander-in-chief of 
the British army ; but as to the letter signed " Lambert," 
Major- General Jackson, not knowing the rank and powers of 
that gentleman, must beg to decline corresponding with him. 

The flag departed ; but returned in half an hour, with the 
same proposal, signed, " John Lambert, commander-in-chief 
of the British forces." Jackson's answer was promjjt and 
ingenious. Humbert, by this time, he thought, if he had not 
crossed the river, must be near crossing, and might, in a dip- 
lomatic sense, be considered crossed. Jackson, therefore, con- 
sented to an armistice on the eastern bank ; expressly stipu- 
lating that hostilities were not to be susjjended on the west- 
ern side of the river, and that neither party should send over 
reinforcements until the expiration of the armistice ! A cun- 
ning trick, but not an unfair one, considering the circum- 
stances ; and the less unfair as some reinforcements on the 
English side had already gone over the river. 

When this- reply reached General Lambert he had not yet 
received the report from the western bank, and was still, in 
gome degree, undecided as to the course he should pursue 
there. With the next return of the flag, therefore, came a 
request from Lambert for time to consider General Jackson's 
reply. To-morrow morning, at ten o'clock, he would send a 
definite answer. The cannonade from the lines continued 
through the afternoon, and the troops stood at their posts, 
not certain that they would not again be attacked. 

Early in the afternoon the officer returned from his in- 



220 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

Bpection of the works on the western bank, and gave it as his 
opinion that they could not be held with less than two thou- 
sand men. General Lambert at once sent an order to Colonel 
Gubbins to abandon the works, and to recross the river with 
his whole command ! ! The order was not obeyed without 
difficulty ; for, by this time, the Louisianians, urged by a 
desire to retrieve the fortunes of the day and their own honor, 
began to approach the lost redoubts in considerable bodies. 
Our friend, the Subaltern, who served this day on the western 
bank, was the officer designated to cover, with a strong picket, 
the rear of the retiring column, and keep off those threatening 
parties, " As soon," he says, " as the column had got suf- 
ficiently on their way, the picket likewise prepared to follow. 
But, in doing so, it was evident that some risk must be run. 
The enemy, having rallied, began again to show a front ; 
that is to say, parties of sixty or a hundred men approached 
to reconnoiter. These, however, must be deceived, otherwise 
a pursuit might be commenced, and the reembarkation of the 
whole corps hindered or prevented. It so happened that the 
picket in question was this day under my command ; as soon, 
therefore, as I received information that the main body had 
commenced its retreat, I formed my men, and made a show 
of advancing. The Americans, perceiving this, fled ; when 
wheeling about, we set fire to the chateau, and, under cover 
of the smoke, destroyed the bridge and retreated. Making 
all haste toward the rear, we overtook our comrades just as 
they had begun to embark ; when the little corps, being once 
more united, entered their boats, and reached tlie opposite 
bank without molestation." 

The Subaltern performed his duty so well as to conceal 
from the Americans the departure of the English troops until 
the following morning. With what alacrity Commodore 
Patterson and General Morgan then rushed to their redoubts 
and batteries ; with what assiduity the sailors bored out the 
spikes of the guns, toiling at the work all the next night ; 
with what zeal the troops labored to strengthen the lines ; 



1815.] THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. 221 

with what exultant joy Jackson heard the tidings, may be 
left to the reader to imagine. 

The dead in front of Jackson's lines, scattered and heaped 
upon the field, lay all night, gory and stiff, a spectacle of 
horror to the American outposts stationed in their midst. 
Many of the wounded succeeded in crawling or tottering back 
to their camp. Many more were brought in behind the lines 
and conveyed to New Orleans, where they received every hu- 
mane attention. But, probably, some hundreds of poor fel- 
lows, hidden in the wood or lying motionless in ditches, 
lingered in unrelieved agony all that day and night, until 
late in the following morning — an eternity of anguish. As 
soon as night spread her mantle over the scene, many unin- 
jured soldiers, who had lain all day in the ditches and 
shrubbery, rejoined their comrades in the rear. 

The Subaltern describes the feelings of the discomfited 
troops, when he and the rest of Thornton's command reached 
the camp : — " The change of expression," he says, " visible 
in every countenance, no language can portray. Only twenty 
hours ago and all was life and animation ; wherever you went 
you were enlivened by the sound of merriment and raillery ; 
whilst the expected attack was mentioned in terms indicative 
not only of sanguine hojje, but of the most perfect confidence 
as to its result. Now gloom and discontent everywhere pre- 
vailed. Disappointment, grief, indignation and rage suc- 
ceeded each other in all bosoms ; nay, so completely were the 
troops overwhelmed by a sense of disgrace, that for awhile 
they retained their sorrow without so much as hinting at its 
cause. Nor was this dejection occasioned wholly by the con- 
sciousness of laurels tarnished. The loss of comrades was to 
the full as afflicting as the loss of honor ; for out of more 
than five thousand men, brought on this side into the field, 
no fewer than fifteen hundred had fallen. Among these were 
two Generals (for Gibbs survived his wound but a few hours) 
and many officers of courage and ability ; besides which, 
hardly an individual survived who had not to mourn the loss 
of some particular and well-known companion. 



222 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

" Yet it is most certain tliat, amidst all this variety of 
conflicting passions, no feeling bordering upon despair, or 
even terror, found room. Even among the private soldiers 
no fear was experienced, for if you attempted to converse 
with them on the subject of the late defeat, they would end 
with a bitter curse upon those to whose misconduct they 
attributed their losses, and refer you to the future, when 
they hoped for an opportunity of revenge. To the Ameri- 
cans they would allow no credit, laying the entire blame of 
the fi^ilure upon certain individuals among themselves ; and 
so great was the indignation expressed against one corps (the 
forty-fourth regiment), that the soldiers of other regiments 
would hardly excliange words with those who chanced to 
wear that uniform. Though deeply afflicted, therefore, we 
were by no means disheartened, and even yet anticipated, 
with an eagerness far exceeding what we felt before, a re- 
newal of the combat." 

Mullens and the forty-fourth were not the only scapegoats. 
The deserter, whose information had led General Gibbs' col- 
umn into the fiery jaws of destruction, was now supposed to 
be a spy, sent by Jackson for the purpose of misleading Gen- 
eral Pakenham. A party of soldiers seized the traitor, and, 
in spite of his vehement protestations, hanged him upon a 
tree — a fate which the dastard well deserved, though not from 
them. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS. 

From daylight fear blanched the cheeks of the mothers 
and maidens of the city, left almost alone on the day of the 
great battle. When the cannonade began most of the male 
population who, from age, infirmity, or the scarcity of arms, 
were exempt from military duty, hastened towai-d the camp. 
^' en a safe distance in the rear of the lines they witnessed 



1815.] THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS. 223 

the flash and smoke of the combat ; the boys climbing trees 
to get a wider view ; men and boys all ready, if the lines were 
carried, to hurry back to New Orleans to give warning of the 
enemy's approach, and assist to a place of safety such of the 
ladies as meant to fly. The corps of veterans were posted in 
detachments in front of the banks and public buildings with 
such arms as were left to them. 

And thus it was that in the houses of New Orleans, on 
this decisive day, the women and little children were alone, 
awaiting the issue of the strife, the ceaseless thunder of which 
for many hours shook their windows and their souls. At 
such a time Rumor and Imagination play into each others 
nands. If at one moment there iiew from house to house a 
report that the enemy were gaining the day, the next moment 
the cannonade seemed to be coming nearer. The ladies who 
intended to leave the city, in case it were taken, sat dressed and 
ready all the morning, with their valuables about their per- 
sons, and their children prepared for a journey. But these 
were few. The extreme scarcity of money, the absence of 
their natural protectors, and the withdrawal of the horses for 
the public service, compelled most of the women to forego all 
thought of escape. They must stay and face the danger, 
though it should come in the form of a mob of infuriated sol- 
diers, burning to avenge the obstinate defense of the place. 
The hurried crossing of General Humbert's command by the 
city ferry, after midday, could not have tended to allay the 
alarm. It must have been afternoon before the best informed 
of the ladies breathed quite freely, and felt that for that day, 
at least, they were safe, and might take off their own and 
their childrens' cloaks, and unbar their windows and doors. 

There was also to these trembling women a special cause 
of panic, which demands a few words of explanation here. 

In that age of war and siege, it was common for soldiers 
investing a town to give, in convivial moments, the toast, 
" Beauty and Booty." It was also common for the same sol- 
diers, when they had taken a town, to comport themselves in 
the spirit of that infamous sentiment ; rioting for days and 



224 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

nights in the streets and houses, deaf to the cry of pleading in- 
nocence, and "wallowing in every species of debauchery. And 
the nobler the defense of the town had been the more devilish 
and protracted were such scenes likely to be. For particulars. 
Bee that candid and eloquent work, Napier's History of the 
Peninsula War, in which both the heroic and the diabolical 
deeds of the very men that besieged New Orleans are set 
forth with truth and vividness. From the same work we 
learn that General Pakenliam was conspicuous among the 
officers that served in the Peninsula war for the resolution 
with which he strove, wherever he commanded, to prevent 
the misconduct of the men after the capture of fortified 
places. At such times, however, the spell of discipline loses 
its potency. If the mass of the soldiery are ignorant and 
debased, excesses will be committed in the confusion and in- 
toxication of a triumph which has been hardly won and long 
deferred. Officers lost their lives in the Peninsula war in 
rescuing women from the clutches of men maddened with 
fury, wine, and lust ; and still the riot went on, till the sol- 
diers were satiated and exhausted. If we may believe the 
newspaper accounts of what has lately transpired in India, it 
is to be inferred that, much as the British army has improved 
since 1815 in the moral quality of its rank and file, some of 
its regiments are still mainly composed of drilled and uni- 
formed barbarians. ■ 

The ladies of New Orleans had heard of this toast of 
Beauty and Booty. It appears, according to a confused story 
of Nolte's, which probably had some foundation in truth, that 
a Creole planter, the owner of one of the estates occupied by 
the enemy, visited the British camp a few days before the last 
battle, pretending to be, or thought to be, inimical to the 
American cause. Invited to dine with a party of officers, he 
heard one of them ofier the toast, " Beauty and Booty," and 
also gathered some intimations of Greneral Pakenham's plans. 
During the succeeding night he made his escape, reported to 
General Jackson what he had heard, and mentioned, doubt- 
less, to his friends the ominous toast, which was soon whis- 



1815.] THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS. 225 

pered about among the ladies of the city. Hence, or in some 
similar way, arose the thousand times reiterated lie, that the 
watchword given out by General Pakenham for the eighth of 
January was the language of this camp-fire toast. There was 
no watchword on that day,* nor need of any. In 1833, five 
British ofiicers who served before New Orleans, Generals 
Keane, Lambert, Thornton, and Blakeney, and Colonel Dick- 
son, published a formal denial in the London Times of this 
odious charge, then, for the first time, brought to their notice 
by the work of an English traveler.f Nevertheless, in its es- 
sential meaning, the charge was just ; that is to say, if the 
British had taken New Orleans, the women of the place 
would not have been safe from the insults and violence of 
the soldiers. 

That the ladies had cause for alarm in this particular, I 
am enabled to adduce the confirmatory opinion of an English 
officer, who was in the army of New Orleans. The story 
about to be told was kindly related to me by one who was an 
inmate, during the whole campaign, of the house in which 
the events transpired, the hospitable house of Edward Living- 
ston, General Jackson's friend and most confidential aid. 

* James' Military Occurrences, ii. 390. 

\ After stating the cliarges, these officers said : 

"We, the undersigned, serving in that army, and actually present, and 
through whom all orders to the troops were promulgated, do, in justice to the 
memory of that distinguished officer who commanded and led the attack, the 
whole tenor of whose life was marked by manliness of purpose and integrity of 
view, most unequivocally deny that any such promise (of plunder) was ever held 
out to the army, or that the watchword asserted to have been given out was ever 
issued. And, further, that such motives could never have actuated the man who, 
in the discharge of his duty to his king and country, so eminently upheld the 
character of a true British soldier. 

****** » 

"John Laotsert, Lieutenant General, 
John Keane, Gene7-al, 
W. Thornton, Major General, 
Edward Blakeney, Major General, 
Alex. Dickson, Colonel." 
— James Stuarts Tliree Years in North Ameri^*- 

VOL. II. — 15 



226 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

From what occurred in that house, on this day and on pre- 
ceding days, the reader may judge what was felt and feared, 
what was done and suffered in many houses. 

The day after the night battle of December 23, Greneral 
Jackson sent Edward Livingston to New Orleans to see, first, 
that the wounded of both armies were well cared for in the 
hospitals ; and. secondly, that effectual measures were taken 
for preventing the wounded prisoners from holding communi- 
cation with the British camp. The latter was a most vital 
point, since nothing prevented the enemy's immediate advance 
but his io;norance of General Jackson's real strength, or rathf3r. 
General Jackson's deplorable weakness. While employed at 
one of the hospitals, Livingston saw an English officer brought 
in from the field on a plank, badly wounded and insensible. 
There was something in the appearance of this officer that 
strongly excited the compassion of the aid-de-camp, who was 
the most amiable of human beings. The thigh of the wounded 
man had been horribly torn by a cannon ball ; the loss of blood 
left his handsome young countenance as pallid as death itself ; 
it was evident that nothing but immediate dressing of the 
wound and the most assiduous attention could save his life. 
In the hurry and confusion of the hour such treatment could 
not be afforded in the hospital, and Mr. Livingston ordered 
the bearers of the wounded officer to carry him to his own 
house. An hour later, the officer awoke from the swoon to 
find himself, not on the cold wet field where he had lain all 
night, but in a warm, luxurious bed, in a spacious and ele- 
gant apartment, with lovely women around him looking with 
tenderest pity into his opening eyes. His first languid, deli- 
cious thought was, that he had died last night, and was then 
in heaven among the angels. So, at least, he would after- 
wards say, when pouring out his heartfelt thanks to his gen- 
erous and beautiful benefactress. 

But in removing this officer to his own house the good 
aid-de-camp had very seriously transcended his authority, an 
act which General Jackson was not the man to overlook, even 
in his best frif^nd. There was a little family consultation 



1815.] THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS. 227 

held upon the matter, the result of which was that Mrs. Liv- 
ingston undertook the task of procuring the General's consent : 
" For, you know, the General can refuse nothing to a lady or 
a child.'"' 

In her lively, French way, Mrs. Livginston wrote a note 
to the General, stating what her husband had done, and 
asking, as a reward for his faithful services, the privilege of 
retaining and restoring the wounded officer " I will be," 
said she in substance, " both the nurse and guard of Captain 

. Not the smallest scrap of paper shall leave or reach 

the house without my reading it, nor shall any one have a 
moment's access to his presence except ourselves. And the 
captain, who is evidently a gentleman, has given me his sa- 
cred word of honor that he will not attempt any communica- 
tion with his comrades in camp. And, besides, dear Gen- 
eral, how can he, poor fellow ? as he is so weak that he 
can not lift his arm, nor speak above a whisper. In short, 
General, we have set our hearts upon keeping the captain. 
You will not refuse this confidence to the wife of Edward 
Livingston." 

In words like these, but better than these, Mrs. Living- 
ston addressed the General, who freely granted her request. 
And later in the siege, when the hospitals became over- 
crowded, and wounded prisoners were necessarily placed in 
private houses, and all such houses had a guard before them 
night and day, the house of Mrs. Livingston was not guarded 
— the General permitting her to be both guard and nurse, as 
she had petitioned. The privilege of having a wounded pris- 
oner in their houses was eagerly sought by the ladies ; and 
not merely for humane reasons. It was supposed that the 
presence of an English soldier would be a protection against 
utrage if the city were sacked. During some of the nights 
of terror, when the city was thought to be in unusual peril, 
as many as thirty of Mrs. Livingston's female friends would 
come to her house, hoping to find safety under the roof 
which had given its hospitable shelter to a wounded officer 
of rank. 



228 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

Tte eighth of January dawned. The early roar of the 
artillery, and its unprecedented violence, announced to every 
one in New Orleans that the day decisive of the city's fate 
had come. The cathedral doors were opened at the usual 
hour, and a few devout Creoles and quadroons went to 
their devotions, as usual on Sunday morning, hut whispered 
their prayers with an earnestness unusual. High mass was 
performed, with dread accompaniment of distant cannon, to 
a congregation of shuddering women ; the Ursuline nuns 
doing acts of prayer in the hospitals by the bedside of 
wounded men. 

Those of the nuns who remained in their convent were 
greeted in the morning with an encouraging omen. Many 
years after, Mr. Livingston, then a senator in Congress, said 
in a speech delivered on an eighth of January : — " In the 
city of New Orleans is a convent, in which a number of re- 
spectable ladies have dedicated their lives to the practice of 
piety, to the education of poor children of their own sex, and 
to works of charity. This pious sisterhood were awakened 
from their rest, or disturbed in their holy vigils, before the 
dawn of the 8th of January, by the roar of cannon and 
volleys of musketry. The calendar which pointed out the 
prayers of the day was hastily opened, and indicated the aus- 
picious name of St. Victoria ! They hailed the omen, and 
prostrate on the pavement which ' holy knees had worn, im- 
plored the Grod of battles to nerve the arm of their protectors, 
and turn the tide of combat against the invaders of their 
country. Their prayers were heard. And while they daily 
offer up their thanks to that Power to whose aid they as- 
cribed their deliverance, they have not been unmindful of him 
who was chosen as the instrument to effect it." 

As the morning hours wore away, and rumors of defeat 
became frequent, Mrs. Livingston went alone to the cham- 
ber of her sick officer, who was now fast recovering hia 
strength 

" Captain ," said she, " I have come to ask you a 

serious question, and beg you to give me a candid an- 



1815.] THE LADIES IN NEW ORLEANS. 229 

swer. If tlie city is taken to-day, we have the means of 
leaving, and we are ready to leave. Shall we oe safe if we 
remain ? 

" Madame," was his reply, " if the sacrifice of my own life 
could protect you and your family, I would gladly promise 
you protection. But I can not answer for the violence of 
the soldiery. If you have the means of going, I advise 
you, GO." 

The lady acted upon this advice so far as to have every 
thing in perfect readiness for flight. The horse was harnessed 
to the chaise. A hundred doubloons, which Mr. Livingston 
had bought just before going to the field on the 23d of De- 
cember, were taken from their hiding place. The General's 
fair little friend was equipped. Provisions were prepared. 
At the first authentic signal of disaster the family would have 
begun a long journey up the river to Baton Rouge ; to Nat- 
chez, if necessary. But such a signal never came ; the alarm 
subsided, and was changed, at length, into delirious joy. 

The author of Jackson and New Orleans describes in his 
lively and picturesque manner the change that came over the 
city as the news of the victory became certain. " The anxious 
spectators and listeners in the rear, quickly comprehending 
the glorious result, caught up the sounds of exultation and 
echoed them along the banks of the river, until the glad tid- 
ings reached the city, sent a thrill of joy throughout its limits, 
and brought the whole population into the streets to give full 
vent to their extravagant joy. The streets resounded with 
hurras. The only military force in the city, the veterans, un- 
der their indefatigable commander, the noble old patriot sol- 
dier. Captain De Buys, hastily assembled, and with a drum 
and fife paraded the streets amid the salutes and hurras of 
the people, the waving of the snowy handkerchiefs of the la- 
dies, and the boundless exultation and noisy joy of the juve- 
niles. Every minute brought forth some new proof of the 
great and glorious victory. First, there came a messenger, 
whose horse had been severely taxed, who inquired for the 
residences of the physicians of the city, and dashed madly 



230 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

through the streets in pursuit of surgeons and apothecaries. 
All of the profession, whether in practice or not, were required 
to proceed to the lines, as their services were needed immedi- 
ately. " For whom ?" was the question which agitated the 
bosom of many an anxious parent and devoted wife, and for 
a moment clouded and checked the general hilarity. Soon it 
was known, however, that this demand for surgeons was on 
account of the enemy. All who possessed any knowledge of 
the curative art, who could amputate or set a limb, or take 
up an artery, hurried to the camp. Next there came up a 
message from the camp to disj^atch all the carts and other 
vehicles to the lines. This order, too, was fully discussed and 
commented on by the crowd, which gathered in the streets 
and in all public resorts. But, like all Jackson's orders, it 
was also quickly executed. 

"It was late in the day before the purpose of this order 
was clearly perceived, as a long and melancholy procession of 
these carts, followed by a crowd of men, was seen slowly and 
silently wending their way along the levee from the field of 
battle." (Forty cart-loads and ten boat-loads, says one letter.) 
" They contained the British wounded ; and those v/ho followed 
in the rear were the prisoners in charge of a detachment of 
Carroll's men. Emulating the magnanimity of the army, tlie 
citizens pressed forward to tender their aid to their wounded 
enemies. The hospitals being all crowded with their own sick 
and wounded, these unfortunate victims of English ambition 
were taken in charge by the citizens, and by private contribu- 
tions werQ supplied with mattresses and pillows, with a large 
quantity of lint and old linen for dressing their wounds, all 
of which articles were then exceedingly scarce in the city. 
Those far-famed nurses, the quadroon women of New Orleans, 
whose services are so conspicuously useful when New Orhrans 
is visited by pestilence, freely gave their kind attentions to 
the wounded British, and watched at their bedsides night and 
day. Several of the officers, who were grievously wounded, 
were taken to private residences of citizens, and there provided 



1815.] THE LADIES OF NEW ORLEANS. 231 

with every comfort. Such acts as these ennoble humanity, 
and obscure even the horrors and excesses of war.* 

"From the city the news of Jackson's triumph flew 
rapidly through the neighboring country. It soon reached 
a gloomy detachment which, under Jackson's orders, had been 
condemned to a mortifying and disgusting inactivity at the 
little Fort of St John. Here on the shores of the placid 
Pontchartrain the roar of Jackson's batteries, on the morning 
of the 8th, could be distinctly heard. It was known that 
this was the great attack — the last eftort of the British. 
Their absence from the scene of such a great crisis was hu- 
miliating beyond all expression to the gallant men of this 
detachment. One of them, an officer, the late venerable 
Nicholas Sinnott, a stalwart and determined veteran, who had 
wielded a pike at Vinegar Hill, bore this disappointment with 
ill grace and little philosophy. In the excitement of the mo- 
ment, he could with difficulty be restrained from heading a- 
detachment to proceed to the lines, and expressed his disgust 
in words which were not forgotten to the day of his death 
by his intimate friends and associates. " Oh ! there are the 
bloody villians, murthering my countrymen, and myself stuck 
down in this infernal mudhole." 

To which I may add, that the wounded guest whom Mrs. 
Livingston guarded and nursed recovered his health, and, in 
a few weeks, when the prisoners were exchanged, rejoined his 
regiment, who learned from his grateful lips, at least, that 
the Americans were not barbarians. Thirty years after, he 

* "Immediately," says Major Latour, "one hundred and forty mattresses, a 
great number of pillows, with a large quantity of lint and old linen for dressing 
their wounds, were procured by contributions from all quarters, at a moment 
when such articles were extremely scarce in New Orleans, where not a truss of 
straw could be purphased. Until the hospital directors could establish an hos- 
pital for those wounded men, whose number amounted to nearly four hundred, 
all kinds of refreshments and every attendance that their situation required were 
liberally provided for them by a number of citizens. Several women of color 
offered their services, and were employed in tending them, without any compen- 
sation but the pleasure of relieving suffering humanity." 



232 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

visited his benefactress in the city of New York, to testiiy 
again his gratitude to her, and to renew an acquaintance be- 
gun amid the teiTors of the siege. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 

The ninth of January was the day on which General Jack- 
son really felt himself the victor — ^felt that he had done what 
he came to New Orleans to do. The evening before a deserter 
brought in the news of General Pakenham's death. In the 
morning, while the whole army was in the lines again ready 
to repel another attack, if another attack were intended, word 
came that the enemy had abandoned the western bank, and 
that General Morgan's troops were at their post once more, 
repairing damages and adding strength to the line of defense. 
The day dawned, the mist rolled ofl", and there were no signs 
of a renewal of the strife. " They may try it again," said the 
General, in effect, to confidential officers ; " but my private 
opinion is they will not ; and if they do, we shall be able to 
give a good account of ourselves." On this day, and succeed- 
ing days and nights, his vigilance was not relaxed, but every 
thing went on in the lines as it had before the battle. 

Before the day was far advanced the flag of truce returned 
again, bringing General Lambert's assent to the terms of the 
proposed armistice. A melancholy scene ensued. A line was 
marked off three hundred yards below the American position, 
near to which detachments of both armies were drawn up. The 
bodies of the heroic men who had fallen on or within the ram- 
part were first conveyed to the line and delivered to their 
comrades. The dead that lay upon the field were next car- 
ried in, the ladders that were made for the scaling of the lines 
being used as biers. " I was present," says Nolte, " for a while. 



1815.] THE DAT AFTER THE BATTLE. 233 

when they were trying to recognize the bodies, and when they 
found that of Major Whittaker the soldiers burst into tears, 
saying, ' Ah, poor Major Whittaker ! he is gone, the worthy 
fellow.'" Some of the American troops, it appears, could 
not conceal their exultation, even then. "An American 
officer," says the Subaltern, " stood by smoking a cigar, and 
apparently counting the slain, with a look of savage exultation, 
and repeating over and over again to each individual that 
approached him that their loss amounted to eight men killed 
and fourteen wounded. I confess that when I beheld the 
scene I hung down my head, half in sorrow and half in anger. 
With my officious informant I had every inclination to pick 
a quarrel; but he was on duty, and an annistice existed, both 
of which forbade the measure. I could not, however, stand 
by and repress my choler ; and since to give it vent would 
have subjected me to a more serious inconvenience than a mere 
duel, I turned my horse's head and galloped back to the camp." 
It is safe to say that that American officer, whoever he was, 
would not have been the last to run if the English had car- 
ried the lines. 

The collection of the dead and the digging of the graves 
consumed the day. In the evening, by the light of torches, 
in the presence of the whole British army, with brief impres- 
sive ceremonial, the dead were laid in their wet and shallow 
graves. So numerous were they, and buried so imperfectly, 
that the place was not approachable during the succeeding 
summer, I read in a New Orleans paper of that summer 
that the odor of the dissolving bodies was perceived in the 
city itself at times, and excited fears of pestilence. For a long 
time some of the bodies were even visible above the surface 
of the plain. To this hour " the spot thus consecrated has 
never been invaded by the plow or the spade, but is regarded 
with awe and respect by the superstitious Africans, and is 
now occupied by a grove of stunted cypress, strikingly com- 
memorative of the disasters of this ill-fated expedition."* 

* Jackson and New Orleans, page 361. 



234 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

"'^How horrible the scenes in the British hospitals the day 
after the battle ! Says Captain Hill : " The scene presented 
at La Sonde's was one I shall never forget ; almost every 
room was crowded with the wounded and dying-. The bodies 
of two gallant generals lay close to each other, and another 
was severely hurt ; mortifying defeat had again attended the 
British arms, and the loss in men and officers was frightfully 
disastrous. I was the unwilling spectator of numerous am- 
putations ; and on all sides nothing was heard but the piteous 
cries of my poor countrymen, undergoing various operations. 
The ninety-third regiment had suffered severely ; and I can- 
not describe the strange and ghastly feelings created by seeing 
a basket nearly full of legs severed from these fine fellows, 
most of which were still covered with their hose." 

" I have already mentioned that, on the disastrous 8th, 
General Keane received a wound from a rifle ball. A curious 
circumstance occurred while he was under the hands of the 
surgeon : the lower limbs of the gallant officer were encased 
in pantaloons of double-milled elastic web ; the ball had pen- 
etrated to a considerable depth in the thigh ; and the doctor, 
even before probing, deemed it advisable to pull away from 
the mouth of the orifice as much of the pantaloons as possible, 
which operation, from its adhering so pertinaciously to the 
flesh, inflicted considerable pain on the general ; great, how- 
ever, was their surprise and delight when, after some agreeable 
tugs at the aforesaid double-milled, the bullet fell out, and 
although the elastic web was rendered nearly as fine as a cob- 
web, it had resisted the progress of the ball, and had effected 
its removal more skillfully than the finest pair of forceps." 

Was General Jackson satisfied with his victory ? Was 
be inclined to repose upon his laurels ? By no means. He 
had no sooner learned the full extent of the enemy's loss, and 
comprehended the full effect of that loss upon the mind of the 
British general, than he began to revolve in his mind the 
feasibility of attacking them in their position, or, by cutting 
them off from their ships, to force them to surrender. Indeed, 



1815.] THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 235 

he had resolved upon such a measure, and, in furtherance of 
it, ordered the veteran guard to give up all their remaining 
muskets. ■■•'•■ With these, and the muskets found upon the field 
of battle, he could arm his men well enough, he thought, to 
admit of the detachment of a large force without imprudently 
weakening his own position. In his own mind the project 
was swiftly completed, and there is now little doubt that he 
could have done what iie proposed. Before taking a decisive 
step, however, he called an informal council of officers, and 
asked their opinion of the scheme. 

They opposed it with one accord. 

" What do you want more T' said Edward Livingston, 
" Your object is gained. The city is saved. The British 
have retired. For the pleasure of a blow or two, will you risk 
against those fearless troops your handful of men, composed 
of the best and worthiest citizens, and rob so many families 
of their heads !"f 

General Adair's advice was to the same effect. " I was 
asked by General Jackson," wrote Adair, in 1817, " what I 
thought of an attack on the enemy's lines. I objected to its 
being made at that time, as we were daily and hourly expect- 
ing a large supply of arms from government, and stated as 
my principal reason that it would be risking too much on the 
event — that if we were beaten back it would be with consid- 
erable loss of both officers and men, and might encourage the 
enemy (who were still double our number) to renew the attack 
on us ; that our men (meaning the' army generally, for I did 
not discriminate) were militia without discipline, and if once 
beaten they could not be relied on again. Therefore I deemed 
the risk on our part too great, because, if beaten, the country 
would probably be lost. I made other observations, all of 
which, so far as I understood, met the approbation of all pre- 
sent, and concluded by telling the General, if he had deter- 
mined on 'the attack, not to think from my observations that 

* Letter of General Jackson to General Adair, July, 1817. In Kentucky R» 
porter. 

\ Nolte, p. 224. 



236 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1815. 

I would not engage in it cheerfully ; that if he would give 
the order and j)oint out the ground over which I was to march, 
I would engage to lead the Kentuckians as far as I could go 
myself, and I believed the other corps would follow their 
officers as far as they could survive to lead them."* 

The General did not persist. The old way of annoying 
the enemy by cannonade in the daytime, and by " hunting 
parties" during the night, he concluded, was the wiser plan, 
and it was adopted accordingly. How effective it was, the 
English narratives attest. " Of the extreme unpleasantness 
of our situation," says the Subaltern, " it is hardly possible 
to convey any adequate conception. We never closed our 
eyes in peace, for we were sure to be awakened before many 
minutes elapsed by the splash of a round shot or shell in the 
mud beside us. Tents we had none, but lay, some in the 
open air, and some in huts made of boards, or any materials 
that could be procured. From the first moment of our land- 
ing, not a man had undressed excepting to bathe, and many 
had worn the same shirt for weeks together. Besides all this, 
heavy rains now set in, accompanied with violent storms of 
thunder and lightning, which, lasting during the entire day, 
usually ceased towards dark, and gave place to keen frosts. 
Thus were we alternately wet and frozen ; wet all day, and 
frozen all night. With the outposts, again, there was con- 
stant skirmishing. With what view the Americans wished 
to drive them in, I can not tell ; but every day were they 
attacked and compelled to maintain their ground by dint of 
hard fighting. In one word, none but those who happened 
to belong to this army can form a notion of the hardships 
which it endured, and the fatigue which it underwent. 

" Nor were these the only evils which tended to lessen oui 
numbers. To our soldiers every inducement was held out by 
the enemy to desert. Printed papers, offering lands and 
money as the price of desertion, were thrown into the pickets, 
whilst individuals made a practice of approaching our posts, 
and endeavoring to persuade the very sentinels to quit their 
* Kentucky Beporter, October, 1817. 



1815.] THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 237 

stations. Nor could it be expected that bribes so tempting 
would always be refused. Many desertions began daily to 
take place, and became before long so frequent that the evil 
rose to be of a serious nature." 

Captain Cooke adds some curious and striking incidents : 
*' Although the distance was one mile and a quarter, still 
they contrived to elevate their cannon, so that the balls some- 
times flew over us or lobbed into our frail huts, and the 
heavy shells from a large mortar dropped amongst us in a 
similar manner, but the ground was so soft, being composed 
of alluvial soil, that whenever the shells reached it without 
exploding they seldom did any injury, merely making large 
holes of five or six feet deep, then bursting with a dead sound 
and scattering the loose mold. At this spot the water did not 
spring up so near the surface as in the vicinity of the Amer- 
ican lines, which could not be approached by zig-zags, as at 
ordinary sieges, owing to the water springing up at the depth 
of a foot. From the time we landed I did not see a stone oi 
pebble of any sort, and as if the birds were aware of this, they 
would hop within a few yards of us without taking flight. 
These flocks consisted of birds veiy like robins, their breasts 
being of a reddish tint, but they were much larger than a 
blackbird. The Americans, hearing our martial music, seemed 
resolved to give a response, and every morning before day- 
light played several times with a band of music that was sta- 
tioned about the center of their lines, and one particular 
waltz was seldom omitted. 

" Three days after the attack a grave was dug for Lieuten- 
ant Duncan Campbell of our regiment, who expired in great 
agony from a wound in the head, and being sewed up in a 
blanket he was consigned to a clayey resting-place. An 
officer stood at the head of the wet grave reading the funeral 
service, with a prayer-book in his hand ; the rest of the 
officers were standing round the grave with caps off, when a 
shell from the enemy came whistling through the air, and 
was descending apparently upon our heads, but fortunately it 
exploded one hundred yards in the air with a dreadful crash, 



238 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

showering down a thousand iron fragments, which we heard 
dropping in every direction without injuring one of us. The 
noise' having subsided, the prayer was then conchided, the 
grave covered over, and we retired from the solitary cere- 
mony. The night after this burial a shell exploded over a 
hut in which two officers of our regiment were sleeping, which 
cut oif both the feet of Lieutenant D'Arcy — the one just 
below the knee, and the other at the ankle-joint, and he 
crawled out of the hut in this horrible situation. One of his 
feet was driven so far into the soft mold that it was obliged 
to be dug out the following day. 

"A round shot knocked the cooking kettle oif a fire which 
was encircled by officers' servants, without doing further 
damage than spilling the soup, which in these hard times 
was a very serious inconvenience ; for owing to adverse winds 
and the necessity of carrying the wounded down to the ship- 
ping by Lake Borgne, a distance of sixty miles, and bringing 
up in return provisions, the sailors Avere quite exhausted. 
They had been exposed for more than a month in the depth 
of winter to all kinds of weather, sweating on the oars by 
day, or perishing with cold in the open boats by night. The 
consequence was that the consumption was beyond the pro- 
duce ; on some days we did not taste food, and when we did 
it was served out in such small quantities as only to tantalize 
our voracious appetites, so that between short commons and 
a perpetual cannonade we passed ten days after the repulse in 
as uncomfortable a manner as could fall to the lot of most 
militaires to endure. 

" One morning before daylight we were disturbed (having 
been kept awake half the night by the usual salutations of 
shot and shell) by the water pouring into our huts, and as 
soon as objects could be discerned what a dreary prospect 
presented itself to view ! The Mississippi had overflown its 
Danks, and nothing but a sheet of water was to be seen, ex- 
cept a few straggling huts and one house, the lines of the 
Americans, and the forest trees. It was nearly dark before 
the waters subsided. The whole day the troops were envel- 



1815.] THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 239 

oped in muddy blankets, shivering with cold, as hungiy as 
hunters, and looked like polar bears standing on their hind 
legs. The enemy, who were as badly ofif as ourselves, ceased 
firing, being, as we afterwards understood, up to their knees 
in mire. One day, being in advance on picket, in a fort con- 
structed by the parings of the black-loam for some twenty or 
thirty yards around, and within a few hundred yards of the 
enemy, I distinctly saw with my telescope a motley group of 
Americans traversing and elevating a gun, for the purpose of 
throwing lob-shot over our heads into the principal bivouac. 
One of these civil artillery-men Avas capiied with a red 
woolen cap, a second wore the hat of a miller, and so on. 

" A grove of the loftiest orange-trees I ever saw grew near 
the scattered houses, and were covered with oranges nearly 
ripe ; this may appear surprising at this season of the year, 
but such was the case ; and in lack of other food we cast 
them into iron pots half filled with sugar, mixed with a little 
water, by which process we converted them into candied 
orange-peel, which in some degree satisfied the cravings of 
hunger, but brought on complaints, added to the cold and 
wet, which sent many officers sick on board ship. The sugar 
in the hogsheads was crystallized with the alternate rains, 
frost, and the occasional gleams of sunshine, and ate very like 
candied sugar." 

Men so situated need not be attacked. Generals January 
and February, as the late Emperor Nicholas remarked, will 
suffice for them. 

And while the army fared so ill on land, part of the fleet 
was meeting a disappointing repulse at Fort St. Philip, near 
the mouth of the Mississippi. Major Overton, the command- 
ant of Fort St. Philip, received information, as early as the 
1st of January, that a portion of the enemy's fleet were pre- 
paring to ascend the river for the purpose of cooperating with 
the army, and that his fort was first to be bombarded out of 
the way. 

Oa the grounds of this information," says the mjyor in his dispatch tc 
General Jackson, "I turned my attention to the security of my command 



240 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

I erected small inagazines in difiercut parts of the garrison, that if one blew 
up I could resort to another; built covers for my men to secure them from 
the explosion of the shells, and removed the combustible matter without 
the works. Early in the day of the 8th I was advised of their approach, 
and on the 9th, at a quarter past 10, a. m., hove in sight two bomb-vessels, 
one sloop, one brig, and one schooner ; they anchored two and a quarter 
miles below. ... At half-past three o'clock, p. m., the enemy's bomb- 
vessels opened their fire from four sea-mortars, two of thirteen inches, two 
of ten, and to my great mortification I found they were without the effec- 
tive range of my shot, as many subsequent experiments proved ; they con- 
tinued their fire with little intermission during the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 
14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th. I occasionally opened my batteries on them 
with great vivacity, particulai-ly when they showed a disposition to change 
their position. On the 17th, in the evening, our heavy mortar was said to 
be in readiness. I ordered that excellent officer, Captain Wolstonecraft, of 
the artillerists, who previously had charge of it, to open a fire, which was 
done with great effect, as the enemy from that moment became disordered, 
and at daylight on the 18th commenced their retreat, after having thrown 
ujjwards of a thousand heavy shells, besides small shells from howitzers, 
round shot and grape, wliich be discharged from boats, under cover of the 
night. 

Failure, failure everywhere to this imposing expedition. 

On the day after the great battle General Jackson pre- 
pared his dispatch to the Secretary of War, which communi- 
cated to the people of the United States the leading particu- 
lars of the event. The passage in it relating to the flight of 
the Kentuckians caused general surprise, and general regret, 
too ; for Kentucky has been, from of old, a kind of pet State 
(old Ken tuck) to the rest of the Union. The words of the 
General expressed, doubtless, the prevalent feeling of the 
army at the moment. " The entire destruction of the enemy's 
army," said the General, after briefly naiTating the main bat- 
tle, " was now inevitable, had it not been for an unfortunate 
occurrence which at this moment took place on the other side 
of the river. Simultaneously with his advance upon my lines, 
he had thrown over in his boats a considerable force to the other 
side of the river. These, having landed, were hardy enough 
to advance against the works of General Morgan ! and what 
is strange and diflicult to account for, at the very moment 



1815.J THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 241 

when their entire discomfiture was looked for with a confidence 
approaching to certainty, the Kentucky reinforcements in- 
gloriously fled, drawing after them, by their example, the re- 
mainder of the forces, and thus yielding to the enemy that 
most fortunate position. The batteries which had rendered 
me for many days the most important service, though bravely 
defended, were of course now abandoned, not, however, antil 
the guns had been spiked." 

These words, penned in haste, and before the circum- 
stances were known, were deeply grievous to the whole of 
General Adair's command, and to the patriotic State from 
which they came. Henry Clay read them in Europe with 
astonishment and sorrow. A court-martial afterwards pro- 
nounced the conduct of the Kentucky detachment " not re- 
prehensible," an opinion in which General Jackson never 
could be brought heartily to coincide. It was difficult in the 
extreme for him to believe that running away before an enemy 
was " not reprehensible," whatever the circumstances might 
be. It was, if possible, more difficult for General Jackson to 
remove from his mind an opinion which he had strongly held, 
and to which he was publicly committed. Hence it was that 
the language of his dispatch became, in after times, the occa- 
sion of a most angry correspondence and lasting feud between 
General Jackson and General Adair, as will, in due time, 
be related. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 

As it will probably become apparent to the reader, before 
he has done with this work, that the popularity of Andrew 
Jackson is the principal fact in the political history of the 
United States during the last thirty-five years, it is impor- 

VOL. 11. — 16 



242 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

tant to show how that popularity came to he so overshadow- 
inoj and irresistible ; came to he such that, to use language 
current in his day, it "could stand anything." Such a de- 
fense as Jackson made of the southwest and of New Orleans 
would, in any country, at any time, have rendered famous 
enough the name of the defender. But there were several 
circumstances concurring at the time which caused the tidings 
of the victory to come upon the country with an effect thrill- 
ing and ineffaceable. 

If an old man of perfect memory were asked to name the 
time when the prospects of this Republic were shrouded in 
the deepest gloom, and the largest ^number of the people de- 
spaired of its future, his answer, I think, would be : the first 
thirty-seven days of the year 1815. It was the dead of winter. 
Whatever evils the war had brought on the country Avere 
then most acutely and most generally felt. The capital of 
the nation was in ruins. Congress was as factious, ill-tem- 
pered and unmanageable as parliamentary bodies invariably 
are when there is most need of united and efficient action. 
The twenty-six staid and respectable old gentlemen, styled the 
Hartford Convention, had recently met, and the administra- 
tion papers were denouncing them as traitors, and filling the 
country with the wildest misrepresentations of their character 
and designs. And, it must be owned, that the tone of the 
New England press was such as almost to justify such misre- 
presentations. " Is there," said the Boston Gazette, " a Fed- 
eralist, a patriot in America, who conceives it his duty to 
shed his blood for Bonaparte, for Madison and Jefferson, and 
that host of rufl&ans in Congress who have set their faces 
against us for years, and spirited up the brutal part of the 
populace to destroy us ? Not one. Shall we, then, any longer 
be held in slavery and driven to desperate poverty by such a 
graceless faction ?" " No more taxes from New England." 
said many editors, "till the administration makes j^eace," 
as though the badgered and distracted administration had 
not been directing its best energies to that very object for 
nearly a year past. 



1815.] THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 243 

The great British expedition, moreover, so long muster- 
ing in the West Indies, so long dehiyed, cast a vague but 
prodigious shadow before it. The inactivity of the enemy in 
the north was itself a cause of alarm. Gallatin's warning 
letter of June, 1814, had put New York, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore on their guard ; but as the autumn passed with- 
out the reappearance of a hostile force in the northern waters, 
the conviction gained ground that something overwhelming 
was in contemplation against the defenseless south and 
southwest. Portentous paragraphs from the newspapers of 
the West Indies and Canada confirmed this opinion. In 
October Greneral Wilkinson felt so sure that New Orleans 
would fall into the hands of the enemy, that he wrote suc- 
cessively to three of his friends there, and, finally, to Secre- 
tary Monroe, urging the instant removal of certain plans and 
charts which he had left in the town, and which would be of 
fatal value, he thought, to the British general. 

At that day, the reader must keep in mind. New Orleans 
was as many days' journey from Washington as New York 
now is from San Francisco. Fancy the whole country in 
breathless expectation, to-day, of an attack upon San Fran- 
cisco by a vast armament that had been for months gathering 
at the Sandwich Islands — San Francisco left, necessarily, to 
its own resources, with some vaguely-known Indian fighter 
from the mines in command of its militia. With what feel- 
ings should we read, in such a posture of affairs, the heading 
in the newspapers, "Fifteen days later from California !" 

It so chanced that the eighth of January was the day on 
which it was first whispered about Washington that the 
President had received news of the arrival of the British fleet 
at the mouth of the Mississippi. The National Intelligencer 
of the day before contained "a rumor" that a fleet wilh four- 
teen thousand troops on board had been seen ofi' the coast of 
Florida. The next issue of that paper, January 9th, an- 
nounced as a certainty that this fleet had reached the coast 
of Louisiana. From that time the eyes of the country, as 
the papers of the day expressed it, were fixed upon New Or- 



244 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

leans — not hopefully. It is not an over-statement of the case » 
to say that there was not one well-informed man in the 
northern States who believed that New Orleans could be suc- 
cessfully defended. The administration papers tried to put 
the best face upon the matter ; but all the consolation that 
even the Litelligencer could afford its readers was contained in 
this mild remark : " Appearances justify the expectation of 
the British expedition not being ineffectually resisted." The 
Federal Bepublican, of Gleorgetown, D. C, commented upon 
the news thus : " This great city [New Orleans] has shared 
the fate of Washington, or General Jackson has immortalized 
himself" The western members of Congress, some of whom 
knew General Jackson personally, said, with great confidence, 
that whatever the result of the campaign might be, Jackson 
would do all that man could do to defend the city. Tennes- 
see men went further than this, and offered to bet upon his 
success. 

After a week of gossip and foreboding, came news of the 
gun-boat battle, and its disastrous result ; also rumors of a 
great armament hovering on the Atlantic coast. " We are a 
lost country," said the federal papers in doleful concert. " A 
wicked administration has ruined us. New Orleans having 
fallen an easy prey, the British general will leave a few ac- 
climated black regiments to garrison that city, and bring the 
Wellington heroes round to the Chesapeake. Baltimore will 
not be able to resist. Washington will again be overrun. 
Philadelphia and New York will next be attacked, and who 
shall say with what result ? See to what a pass Jefferson 
and French democracy have brought a deluded country !" 
The democratic papers still strove, though with evident faint 
heart, to talk hopefully ; a fact which the federal editors ad- 
duced as the very extreme of party perversity. " They have 
ruined the country, and yet even in this last dire extremity 
they will not own it." 

January 21st, the Intelligencer published accounts of the 
landing of General Keane and of the night battle of Decem- 
ber 23d. But, unluckily, the news was like a " continued 



1815.] THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 245 

atory" in the newspapers, which leaves oif at the precise mo- 
ment when the reader gasps with desire to have the tale pro- 
ceed. The mail closed at New Orleans at daylight on the 
morning of the 24th. No dispatch was received from the 
General, therefore, but merely some hasty letters from peo- 
ple in New Orleans ; particularly one already given in these 
pages, which left the army in the field expecting to renew the 
combat at dawn of day. Still it was encouraging to know 
that the city had not fallen, and that Jackson had so deci- 
sively announced his presence to a confident foe. 

Then followed ten weary days and nights of suspense, with- 
out one word from the seat of war. Bad news, too, and worse 
rumors from other quarters ; news of the capture of the frigate 
President, a few days out of New York ; news of the appear- 
ance of a great fleet off Savannah, the town expecting assault 
from three thousand troops, martial law proclaimed, and 
universal alarm ; news of the dangerous illness of Secretary 
Monroe, worn out by the anxious toil of his position ; dread- 
ful rumors respecting New England and the Hartford Conven- 
tion ; rumors that the President had received the very worst 
news from New Orleans, but concealed it for purposes of his 
own ; rumors that the British had made "fearful havoc" 
among Jackson's troops ; rumors that Charleston was threat- 
ened ; rumors of British men-of-war off Montauk point, and 
the caj)ture of fishermen in Long Island Sound. To the 
gossips of that day the country must have seemed hemmed in 
on every side by unknown fleets at the north, by indubitable 
Wellington heroes at the south. " Not a fishing smack," 
said a federal paper, "can venture out of harbor in the 
east without being immediately picked up by one of the 
enemy's cruisers." " See what Jefferson, and French demo- 
cracy," etc., etc. 

To add to the gloom that prevailed in Washington and 
elsewhere, a snow storm of remarkable violence and extent set 
in on the 23d of January, and continued for three days. The 
roads were blocked up in every direction, far and near. On 
the last day of the month, three southern mails were overdue 



M6 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

at Washington, and eveiy soul in the place was worn out 
with mere hunger for news. A mail struggled in at last 
through the snow, and brought — simply dispatches from Gen- 
eral Jackson, detailing the gun-boat battle and the night 
attack of the 23d. The dispatches were comforting, however, 
as they made certain what was before uncertain, and were 
instinct with Jackson's own resolution and confidence. A few 
hours later another mail amved, with news of the grand re- 
connoissance of December 28th, and of the battle of the bat- 
teries on the 1st of January ; but also of General Paken- 
ham's arrival with exaggerated reinforcements. New Orleans 
is not taken yet, said the western members and the Kepublican 
editors. It is merely a question of time, replied the Federal- 
ists ; the next mail will finish New Orleans and you ! 

During the next few days, 'the most intense and painful 
solicitude prevailed in all circles ; a solicitude in which pat- 
riotic, partizan and humane feelings were strangely blended. 
Few people in Washington could more than hope for Jack- 
son's final triumph, and that faintly. Mr. 0. J. Ingersoll, 
Kepublican member of Congress, tells us that the evening be- 
fore the arrival of the next mail he was closeted with a naval 
officer, when the standing topic of the siege of New Orleans 
was amply discussed between them. Maps were examined, 
the means of defense enumerated, comparisons of the con- 
tending armies made. The officer demonstrated to his own 
satisfaction, and probably convinced Mr. Ingersoll, that the 
defense of the city was impossible ! 

The next day Mr. Ingersoll, in his character of adminis- 
tration member, was listening, in silent ecstasy, to the read- 
ing of General Jackson's dispatch, recounting the victory of 
the 8th of January, which Mr. Madison had sent down to the 
House in order that his political friends might enjoy the fiist 
reading of it ! How many things have been demonstrated to 
he impossible just before they were done ! 

Washington was wild with delight. The mayor, while 
yet the news was only known to official persons, issued his 
proclamation recommending the illumination of the city. 



181^. J TKE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 247 

That evening the town was blazing with light, and the whole 
population was abroad, now thronging about the White 
House, cheering the President, then surging around the 
houses of the Secretaries, and the residences of the leading: 
supporters of the war, rending the air with shouts. Modern 
readers vividly remember the news of Biicna Vista, and can 
imagine the scenes which the saloons and streets of Washing- 
ton presented on the 4th of February, 1815. The next issue of 
the National Intclligeoicer can not be glanced over to this day 
without exciting in the mind something of the feeling which 
is wont to express itself by three times three and one cheer 
more. The great news was headed in the moderate IntelV 
f/encer's largest type : 

" ALMOST INCREDIBLE VICTORY ! : !" 

Then came a brief summary of the events of the eighth , 
how the enemy in prodigious force had attacked our intrench- 
ments, and been repulsed by General Jackson and his brave 
associates with unexampled slaughter ! Then followed two 
dispatches from the Greneral, with letters from other officers. 
The entire first page was filled with victory; editorial com- 
ments succeeding, joyful but moderate. On the wings of- the 
Intelligencer the news flew over the country, kindling every- 
where the maddest enthusiasm. " A general illumination," 
says Mr. John Binns, in his autobiography, " was ordered in 
Philadelphia. Few indeed there were, yet there were a few, 
who on that night closed their window-shutters, and mourned 
over the defeat of the enemies of their country. I had early 
intelligence of this joyous news, and gladly, by an extra, spread 
it abroad. I put the scene painters to work, and had a trans- 
parency }tainted which covered nearly the whole front of my 
house. There had been a heavy fall of snow, and there was 
that evening from nine to twelve inches depth of snow on 
the ground. That, however, did not prevent men, women, and 
children from parading the streets, and delighting their eyes 
by looking at the illuminations and illuminated transparencies, 
which made the principal streets of our city as light as day 



248 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

My transparency represented General Jackson on horseback 
at the head of his staff, in pursuit of the enemy, with the 
motto, " This day shall ne'er go by, from this day to the end- 
ing of the world, but He, in it, shall be remembered." 

The opposition journals far surpassed even those of the ad- 
ministration in heaping laudations upon the name of Jackson, 
since they were anxious to keep their readers in mind that in the 
lienors of this great triumph the administration had no share. 
Jackson, and Jackson alone, aided by his gallant troops, had 
won the battle. To Jackson and the army be all the glory ! 
Who is this Jackson .^ Where was he born ? What State 
claims him ? Where has he been all his life ? What is his 
business and standing ? To such questions as these, uttered 
by tens of thousands of northern people, who knew little of 
Jackson but his name, editors and correspondents gave such 
answers as they could gather or invent. Wonderful things 
were told of him. *' He is a lawyer of Tennessee, the most 
elegant scholar in the western country." " He was born in 
Ireland." " He was born in South Carolina," " No ; he waa 
born in England, where his parents and a brother or two are 
still living, near Wolverhampton, where I saw them a few 
years ago." But all agreed that he had defended New Orleans 
in a masterly manner, gained the mest splendid victory of 
the war, and wrote a perfect model of a clear, eloquent, and 
modest despatch. 

Jackson was always fortunate in his secretaries. Or, to 
speak more correctly, he was an admirable judge of the man 
he wanted ! The dispatches which he sent from New Or- 
leans were mostly penned by Edward Livingston ; but per- 
haps they were more truly his own than if he had written them 
himself. " My business is to fight, not write," he would say 
at New Orleans. Edward Livingston, in a formal dispatch, 
could express the General's meaning better than the General 
himself could, and did so, to the lasting admiration of the 
whole country. It is creditable to Mr. Livingston's good 
sense that he never, in his lifetime, would admit that he had 
written these and other similar papers ; nor would alio w th<j 



18 i5.] THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 249 

fact to be mentioned out of the small circle of his own home. 
Some of the original draughts of the New Orleans papers, and 
other Jacksonian utterances of greater importance, still exist 
in Mr. Livingston's hand- writing. 

The Tennessee members of Congress came in for a large 
share of the honors of the victory. General Jackson's old 
enemy, Grovernor John Sevier, was a member of the House at 
the time. February 8th, he wrote thus to one of his sons at 
home: — "The Orleans mail has arrived with the news of 
Jackson's success in repulsing the enemy, which has occa- 
sioned much rejoicing in this place ; and we have received as 
many congratulations as though we had been in the action. 
In consequence of the news the city was very brilliantly 
illuminated last night, and jj constant firing nearly all the 
night afterwards. Our army from Tennessee is more talked 
of here than half the world besides. I expect the Welling- 
tonians begin to think somewhat differently of the Ameri- 
cans, and find they are to meet some trouble before they 
conquer them."* 

Better news was, meanwhile, on its way to Washington. 
The intelligence of the great victory was nine days old, and 
was still a topic in all circles and papers, when a courier 
dashed through the city of Washington, dropping, as he 
went, the first hint of Peace ! The editor of the National 
Intelligencer has beautifully told, in later years, the story of 
the arrival in Washington of this great news : — 

" Never, from the beginning of this government to the 
present, has a more gloomy day dawned upon it than the 
13th of February, in the year 1815. 

" Some time about noon of that memorable day mysteri- 
ously arose a rumor, faint as the earliest whisper of the west- 
ern breeze on a summer's morn, but freshening and gathering 
strength as it spread, vmtil, later in the day, it burst forth in 
a general acclaim of Peace ! Peace ! Peace ! Startled by 
a; sound so unexpected and so joyful, men flocked into the 
streets, eagerly inquiring of whence and how came the news, 
* MSS. of Colonel A. W, Putnam, President of Tennessee Historiw^l Society. 



250 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1815. 

and, receiving no answer, looking up into the heavens with 
straining eyes, as though expecting a visible sign of it from 
the seat of that Omnipotence by whose interposition alone 
they could, but a short moment before, have even hoped for 
so great a blessing. 

" When, at length, the rumor assumed a more definite 
shape, the story ran that a private express had passed through 
the city at some time during the day, bearing to merchants in 
the south the glad tidings that a treaty of peace had reached 
the shores of the United States, It was still but a rumor, 
however, and wanted that consistency which was necessary to 
justify full confidence in it, 

" Unable to procure any information which should even 
confirm the report that news o:^ any kind had actually passed 
through the city (so vague was the rumor), one of the editors of 
this paper waited upon the President to obtain from him, who 
must certainly be informed, such information as he might 
possess on the subject, Mr. Madison, however, knew little 
more of the matter than the public; he had been, of course, 
among the first apprized of the rumor, and was inclined to 
believe it true, but deemed it prudent to suspend opinion 
upon the subject until it should be authentically confirmed ; 
and in the National Intelligencer of the following morning 
that advice was accordingly given to the public. Having 
thus had occasion to allude to this interview with Mr. Madi- 
son, it may not be foreign to the subject of this article to 
state that we found that great man sitting alone, in the dusk 
of the evening, ruminating, probably, upon the prodigious 
changes which the news, if true (as he believed it to be), 
would make in the face of public affairs. Affable, as he al- 
ways was, he conversed freely upon the probabilities of the 
news which had reached us, and showed a natural interest in 
its being confirmed. But it could not escape remark, at the 
same time, that any one not familiar with that calm forti- 
tude which, in the most trying scenes had ever sustained hint^ 
and that equality of temper which on no occasion ever de- 
serted him, might have deemed, from the unruflled composure 



1815.] THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 251 

of his countenance, his manner, and his discourse, that he 
was the person in the city who had the least concern in the 
reported event, though, certainly, could personal considera- 
tions have been suffered to influence him at such a moment, 
no man living could have a greater.--' 

"Steam conveyances and. electric telegraphs had not then 
been invented to realize the lover's prayer to the gods " to an- 
nihilate both time and space," and all classes in Washington 
had, with the President, no choice but to await the compara- 
tively slow process of travel by horses and carriages from New 
York to Washington for coutirmation or contradiction of the 
report. The interval of suspense, it may well be imagined, 
was sufficiently tedious, though it was brought to an end as 
early as could have been reasonably expected. Late in the 
afternoon of Thursday, the 14th of February, came thunder- 
ing down Pennsylvania avenue a coach and four foaming 
steeds, in wliich was Mr. Henry Carroll (one of the secretaries 
at Ghent), the bearer, as was at once ascertained, of the treaty 
of peace between the American and British commissioners. 
Cheers and congratulations followed 'the carriage as it sped 
its way to the office of the Secretary of State, and directly 
thence, with the acting Secretary of State, to the residence 
of the President. . . . 

"The other members of the Cabinet having joined the 

* Mr. Madison had reasons for believing the report, which he did not com- 
municate to the editor of the Intelligencer. Mr. J. C. IngersoU, in his pamphlet 
on "General Jackson's Fine," says — " The news of peace was taken to Wash- 
ton clandestinely by a merchant, brother of an eastern member of Congress, 
who imparted it in strict confidence to Jonathan Meigs, the Postmaster General, 
having first exacted a promise from him not to divulge certain highly important 
information, which, on that condition alone, would be made known to him. The 
Bcheme was to precede the mail, by delaying it one day, in order to speculate in 
cotton, tc^'acco, sugar, and other southern produce, then at low prices, to be im- 
mediately and greatly enhanced by peace. Perplexed between a promise to a 
member of Congress and a sense of public duty, the Postmaster General thought 
proper confidentially to advise with James Monroe, the Secretary of State and 
War, as to what was right to be done in such dilemma. Mr. Monroe had no 
hesitation in determining that such a promise of secrecy was not binding; fortu* 
with, on his own responsibility, he carried the news to the President." 



252 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON [1815 

Secretary of State at the President's residence, the treaty 
was of course taken into immediate consideration by the Pres- 
ident and the Cabinet. 

"Soon after night-fall members of Congress and others, 
deeply interested in the event, presented themselves at the 
President's house, the doors of which stood open. When the 
writer of this entered the drawing-room, at about eight o'clock, 
it was crowded to its full capacity, Mrs. Madison (the Presi- 
dent being with the Cabinet) doing the honors of the occa- 
sion. And what a happy scene it was ! Among the large 
proportion present of the members of both Houses of Congress 
were gentlemen of most opposite politico, but lately arrayed 
against one another in continual conflict and fierce debate, 
now with elated spirits thanking God, and with softened 
hearts cordially felicitating one another upon the joyful intel- 
ligence which (should the terms of the treaty prove accept- 
able) reestablished peace, and opened a certain prospect of a 
great prosperity to their country. But the most conspicuous 
object in the room, the observed of all observers, was Mrs. 
Madison herself, then in the meridian of life and queenly 
beauty. She was in her person, for the moment, the repre- 
sentative of the feelings of him who was, at this moment, in 
grave consultation with his official advisers. No one could 
doubt who beheld the radiance of joy which lighted uj) her 
countenance and diffused its beams around, that all uncer- 
tainty was at an end, and that the government of the country 
had in very truth (to use an expression of Mr. Adams on a 
very different occasion) ' passed from gloom to glory.' With 
a grace, all her own, to her visitors she reciprocated heartfelt 
congratulations upon the glorious and happy change in the 
aspect of public affairs ; dispensing with liberal hand, to 
every individual in the large assembly, the proverbial hos- 
pitalities of that house. . . . 

" The Cabinet being still in session, the writer of this ar- 
ticle was presently invited into the apartment in which it 
was sitting. . . . Subdued joy sat upon the faces of every 
one of them. The President, after kindly stating the result 



1815.] THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 253 

of their deliberations, addressed himself to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in a sportive tone, saying to him, 

" ' Come, Mr. Dallas, you, with your knowledge of the 
contents of the treaty, derived from the careful perusal of it, 
and who write with so much ease, take the pen, and indite 
for this gentleman a paragraph for the paper of to-morrow, 
to announce the reception an(i probable acceptance of the 
ti'caty.' 

" Mr. Dallas cheerfully complied, and whilst we sat by in 
converse produced a brief, quiet paragraph, giving an out- 
line of the treaty, and pronouncing it ' honorable' to all par- 
ties, which, being approved by all present, appeared in the 
hitdligencer the next morning."* 

No victory ever so electriiied the nation as the news of 
this peace. The ship that bore the glad intelligence reached 
New York on Saturday evening, February 11th, an hour 
after dark. There chanced to be in the city that day a young 
gentleman from Connecticut, of observant mind, of wonderful 
memory, and grajohic power of narration ; his name, S. G. 
Goodrich, the Peter Parley t)f a later day. Mr. Goodrich re- 
cords, in his own vivid and pleasant manner, his recollections 
of the scenes that ensued ; appending, however, certain com- 
ments, which the reader Avill know how to estimate : 

"It was about eight o'clock on Saturday evening that the 
tidings circulated through the city. In half an hour after the 
news reached the wharf, Broadway was one living sea of 
shouting, rejoicing people. ' Peace ! peace ! peace !' was the 
deep, harmonious, universal anthem. The whole spectacle 
was enlivened by a sudden inspiration. Somebody came with 
a torch ; the bright idea passed into a thousand brains. In a 
few minutes thousands and tens of thousands of people were 
marching about with candles, lamps, torches — making the 
jubilant street appear like a gay and gorgeous procession. 
The whole night Broadway sang its song of peace. We wer^ 
all democrats, all federalists ! Old enemies rushed into each 

* National Intdligmcer, August 24, 1849. 



^4 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

other's arms ; every house was in a revel ; every heart seemed 
melted by a joy which banished all evil thought and feeling. 
Nobody asked that happy night what were the terms of the 
treaty : we had got peace, that was enough ! I moved about 
for hours in tlie ebbing and flowing tide of people, not being 
aware that I had opened my lips. The next morning I found 
that I was hoarse- from haviiig joined in the exulting cry of 
' peace, peace !' 

" The next day, Sunday, all the churches sent up hymns 
of thanksgiving for the joyous tidings. I set out in the stage- 
coach on Monday morning for Connecticut. All along the 
road the people saluted us with swinging of hats and cries 
of rejoicing. At one place, in rather a lonesome part of 
the road, a schoolmaster came out Avith the whole school at 
his heels to ask us if the news was true. We told him it was; 
wliereupon he tied his bandanna pocket handkerchief to a 
broom, swung it aloft, and the whole school hosannaed — 
' Peace ! peace !' At all our stopping-places the people 
were gathered to rejoice in the good tidings. At one little 
tavern I looked into a room byxihance, the door being open, 
and there I saw the good wife, with a chubby boy in her lap 
— both in a perfect gale of merriment — the child crying out, 
* Peath ! peath !' Oh, ye makers of war, reflect upon this 
heartfelt verdict of the people in behalf of peace ! 

" We arrived at New Haven in the evening, and found it 
illuminated ; the next day I reached Hartford, and there was 
a grand illumination there. The news spread over the coun- 
try, carrying with it a wave of shouts and rejoicings. Boston 
became clamorous with pealing bells; the schools had a jubi- 
lee; the blockaded shipping, rotting at the dilapidated wharves, 
got out their dusty buntings, and these — ragged and forlorn — 
now flapped merrily in the breeze. At night the city flamed 
far and wide — from Beacon street down the bay, telling the 
glorious tale even unto Cape Cod. So spread the news over 
the country, everywhere carrying joy to every heart — with, 
perhaps, a single exception. At Washington the authors of 
the war peeped into the dispatches, and found that the treaty 



1815.] THE NEWS AT THE NOJtiTH. 255 

had no stipulations against orders in coimcil, paper LlockadeSj 
or impressments ! All that could be maintained was, that 
we had made war, charging the enemy with very gross enor- 
mities, and we had made peace, saymg not one word about 
them ! Madison and his party had, in fact, swallowed the 
declaration of war whole, and it naturally caused some un- 
easy qualms in the regions of digestion. ' Let us, however/ 
said they, 'put a good face upon it; we can hide our shame for 
the moment in the smoke of Jackson's victory; as to the rest, 
why we can brag the country into a belief that it has been a 
glorious war !' Madison set the example in a boasting mes- 
sage, and his party organs took up the tune, and have played 
it bravely till the present day."* 

The joy of the country at the return of peace was far from 
being an aifair of sentiment merely. The etfect upon the busi- 
ness of the country was immediate and remarkable. A short 
" money article" in the New York Evening Post of the Mon- 
day following this joyful Saturday contains som'e curious par- 
ticulars. Sugar, which " left off" on Saturday at twenty-six 
dollars per hundred weight, sold on Monday morning at 
twelve dollars and a half. Tea fell from two dollars and a 
quarter per pound to one dollar. Specie was sold on Satur- 
day at twenty-two per cent, premium ; on Monday at two 
per cent. ! Tin fell from eighty dollars per box to twenty- 
five. Government six per cent.'s rose from seventy-six to 
eighty-six ; treasury notes from ninety-two to ninety-eight. 
Bank stock rose ten per cent. The shipping interest awoke 
from a lethargy which had been complete. The wharves 
resounded once more with the noise of labor, and the news- 
papers rejoiced in columns of advertisements announcing the 
speedy departure of vessels to foreign ports. " It is really 
wonderi'ul," said the Post, " to see the change produced in a 
few hours in the city of New York. In no place has the war 
been more felt nor proved more disastrous — putting us back 
in our growth at least ten years ; and no place in the United 

* Recollections of a Lifetime. B7 S. G. Goodrich, i. 503. 



256 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

States will more experience the reviving blessings of a peace. 
Let us be grateful to that merciful Providence who has kindly- 
interposed for our relief and delivered us from all our fears." 

The letters of the day are full of the new hopes inspired 
by the peace. As an expression of the higher feeling of the 
nation, take these words from a letter of Kepublican Judge 
Story, then young upon the bench of the Supreme Court of 
the United States : " Peace has come in a most welcome time 
to delight and astonish us. Never did a country occupy more 
lofty ground : we have stood the contest single-handed against 
the conqueror of Europe, and we are at peace, with all our 
blushing victories thick crowding upon us. If 1 do not much 
mistake, we shall attain to a very high character abroad, as 
well as crush domestic faction. Never was there a more 
glorious opportunity for the Republican party to place them- 
selves permanently in power. They have now a golden op- 
portunity ; I pray God it may not be thrown away. Let us 
extend the national authority over the whole extent of power 
given by the Constitution. Let us have great military and 
naval schools ; an adequate regular army ; the broad founda- 
tions laid of a permanent navy ; a national bank ; a national 
system of bankruptcy ; a great navigation act ; a general sur- 
vey of our ports, and appointments of port-wardens and 
pilots ; judicial courts which shall embrace the whole consti- 
tutional powers ; national notaries ; public and national jus- 
tices of the peace ; for the commercial and national concerns 
of the United States. By such enlarged and liberal institu- 
tions the government of the United States will be endeared 
to the people, and the factions of the great States be rendered 
harmless. Let us prevent the possibility of a division by 
creating great national interests, which shall bind us in an 
indissoluble union."* 

Curious language, the reader will say, to come from one 
who thought himself a Jeffersonian, and who was appointed 
to office as such by James Madison. "National bank," 

* Life and Letters of Judge Stor^, i. 254. 



1815. j THE NEWS AT THE NORTH. 257 

quotha. It was established ere long — the very bank that a 
certain seventh President of the United States had a severe 
tussle with in later years ; the good Judge Story looking on 
with patriotic horror. 

From these glimpses of the time, the reader will compre- 
hend the effect upon the nation of Jackson's victory. It 
occurred at a happy time. It finished the war in glory. It 
restored and inflamed the national self-love. And whoever 
does that in an eminent degree remains for ever dear to a 
nation — becomes its Wellington, its Jackson ! All is summed 
up in a single remark made by Henry Clay when the news 
of the victory reached Paris. '^ Noiv," said he, " I can go to 
England without mortification!"* 

Of the formal honors paid to the victorious General and 
his army little need be said. Not only every State in the 
Union nearly, but almost every corporate body of whatever 
description, sent resolutions of thanks and praise to him. 
With one voice, the country said, in various words, " Well 
DONE !" The resolutions of the New York Legislature, on 
this occasion, were written by a Mr. Martin Van Buren, a 
young lawyer of much promise, a zealous champion of the 
war and of the Republican party. Mr. Van Buren was not 
sparing of panegyric. " The ever-memorable conflict of the 
8th of January," he styled " an event surpassing the most 
heroic and wonderful achievements which adorn the annals 
of mankind." The resolutions unanimously adopted by Con- 
gress, besides bestowing special commendation upon Governor 
Cllaiborne, Major Overton, Commodore Patterson, Major Car- 
mick, the people of Louisiana and the people of New Orleans, 
recognized the merit of the General-in-Chief and of his army 
in these terms : 

" Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That 
the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, given to Major 
General Jackson, and through him, to the officers and sol- 

* Life of Clay, by Epes Sargent, p. 59. 
VOL. II. 17 



258 IIFE OF ANDREW JACKSO^f. [1S15. 

dicrs of the regular army, of the volunteers, and of tlie militia 
under his command, the greater proportion of which troops 
consisted of militia and volunteers, suddenly collected to- 
gether, for their uniform gallantry and good conduct con- 
spicuously disj^layed against the enemy, from the time of 
his landing before New Orleans until his final expulsion 
therefrom, and particularly for their Viilor, skill and good 
conduct on the 8th of Januaiy last, in repulsing, with great 
slaughter, a numerous British army of chosen veteran troops, 
when attempting by a bold and daring attack to carry by 
storm the works hastily thrown up for the protection of 
New Orleans, and thereby obtaining a most signal victory 
over the enemy with a disparity of loss, on his part, unex- 
ampled in military annals. 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be 
requested to cause to be struck a gold medal, with devices 
emblematical of this splendid achievement, and presented to 
Major General Jackson as a testimony of the high sense en- 
tertained by Congress of his judicious and distinguished con- 
duct on that memorable occasion. 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States 
be requested to cause the foregoing resolutions to be com- 
municated to Major General Jackson, in such terms as 
he may deem best calculated to give effect to the objects 
thereof." 

In his den in Nassau street, "severed from the human 
race" by the lamentable death of his Theodosia and her boy, 
Aaron Burr heard, not with indifference, of Andrew Jackson's 
glory — the quick fulfillment of his own prophecy. He had 
his own reflections upon the General's new position before 
the country and its possible consequences, as the reader shall 
le^rn in due time. The reflections of that silent old head had 
often been of the kind that issue in important events, and 
series of events. Perhaps his present thoughts will prove 
fruitful. He was battling then with his army of creditors, 
trying all shifts to keej) out of jail, and practicing law for 
others as well as himself ; old friends eyeing him askance, as 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 259 

he passed by with downcast head along the railing of the old 
brick church, and elsewhere in the region of law and newt^- 
papers. He knew, if no one else knew or knows, what men 
had kept him out of the presidency, and helped to make him 
what he was — a thing abhorred. He bore his old enemies in 
mind occasionally, and the thought arose that, perhaps, by 
setting Jackson at them, he might bring down from their 
pride of place those high and mighty Virginians ! 

But we must return to the seat of war. A courier was 
promptly dispatched from Washington to New Orleans, to 
convey to General Jackson the news of peace. Furnished by 
the Postmaster General with a special order to his deputies 
on the route to facilitate the progress of the messenger by all 
the means in their power, he traveled with every advantage, 
and made great speed. He left Washington on the 15th of 
February, thirty-eight days after the battle. He has a fair 
month's journey before him, which he will perform in nine- 
teen days. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 

How pleasant it would be to dismiss now the conqueror 
home to his Hermitage, to enjoy the congratulations of his 
neighbors and the plaudits of a nation whose pride he had so 
keenly gratified ! But this may not be. His work was not 
done. The next three months of his life at New Orleans were 
crowded with events, many of which were delightful, many of 
which were painful in the extreme. 

The trials of the American army, so far as its patience 
was concerned, began, not ended, with the victory of the 8th 
of January. The rains descended and the floods came upon 
the soft delta of the Mississippi, converting both camps into 



260 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

quagmires. Believed of care, relieved from toil, yet compelled 
to keep the field by night and day, the greater part of the 
American army had nothing to do but endure the inevitable 
miseries of the situation. Disease began its fell work among 
them ; malignant influenza, fevers, and, worst of all, dysen- 
tery. Major Latour computes that during the few weeks that 
elapsed between the 8th of January and the end of the cam- 
paign five hundred of Jackson's army died from these com- 
plaints ; a far greater number than had fallen in action. 
While the enemy remained there was no repining. The sick 
men, yellow and gaunt, staggered into the hospitals when 
they could no longer stand to their posts, and lay down to die 
without a murmur. 

Some glorious days, however, were vouchsafed to the suf- 
fering troops, during which every thing was forgotten that 
was not joyful. That was one bright day, the 18th of Jan- 
uary, when a cartel for the exchange of prisoners was carried 
into efiect. The uniformed companies of New Orleans, with 
colors flying and music playing, marched down to the line of 
British outposts, and drew up in showy array to receive their 
friends and comrades who had been taken by the enemy in 
the night battle, nearly a month before. The prisoners, about 
sixty in number, were escorted by a party of the 95th rifles. 
The roll was called and found to be correct. " Forward, 
Americans !" cried the commander of the uniformed com- 
panies. The prisoners marched along the line, saluted as 
they passed by the troops, and then proceeded to the Ameri- 
can camp, where cheers and congratulations greeted them, 
and hundreds of their old friends rushed forward to grasp 
them by the hand. These prisoners, many of whom were 
leading citizens of New Orleans, bore grateful testimony to 
' the courtesy and kindness of the British ofiicers in whose 
charge they had been. 

The day following, too, was one of unexpected and joyous 
triumph, the occasion of which must be more circumstantially 
related. 

For ten days after the battle the ^English army remained 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 261 

in their encampment, deluged with rain and flood, and played 
upon at intervals by the American batteries on both sides of 
the river. They seemed to be totally inactive. They v^ere 
not so. General Lambert, from the day of the great defeat, 
was resolved to retire to the shipping. But that had now 
become an affair of extreme difficulty, as the Subaltern ex- 
plains. 

" In spite of our losses," he says, " there were not through- 
out the armament a sufficient number of boats to transport 
above one half of the army at a time. If, however, we should 
separate, the chances were that both parties would be de- 
stroyed ; for those embarked might be intercepted, and those 
left behind would be obliged to cope with the entire Ameri- 
can force. Besides, even granting that the Americans might 
be repulsed, it would be impossible to take to our boats in 
their presence, and thus at least one division, if not both, 
must be sacrificed. 

" To obviate this difficulty, prudence required that the 
road which we had formed on landing should be continued to 
the very margin of the lake ; whilst appearances seemed to 
indicate the total impracticability of the scheme. From firm 
ground to the water's edge was here a distance of many miles, 
through the very center of a morass where human foot had 
never before trodden. Yet it was desirable at least to make 
the attempt ; for if it failed we should only be reduced to 
our former alternative of gaining a battle, or surrendering at 
discretion. 

" Having determined to adopt this course. General Lam- 
bert immediately dispatched strong working parties, under 
the guidance of engineer officers, to lengthen the road, keep- 
ing as near as possible to the margin of the creek. But the 
task assigned to them was burdened with innumerable diffi- 
culties. For the extent of several leagues no firm footing 
could be discovered on which to rest the foundation of a 
path ; nor any trees to assist in forming hurdles. All that 
could be done, therefore, was to bind together large quanti- 
ties of reeds, and lay them across the quagmire ; by which 



262 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

means at least the semblance of a road was produced, however 
wanting in firmness and solidity. But where broad ditches 
came in the way, many of which intersected the morass, the 
workmen were necessarily obliged to apply more durable ma- 
terials. For these bridges, composed in part of large branches, 
brought with immense labor from the woods, were constructed ; 
but they were, on the whole, little superior in point of strength 
to the rest of the path, for though the edges were supported 
by timber, the middle was filled up only with reeds." 

It required nine days of incessant and most arduous labor 
to complete the road. The wounded were then sent on board, 
except eighty who could not be removed. The abandoned 
guns were spiked and broken. In the evening of the 18th 
the main body of the army commenced its retreat. 

" Trimming the fires," continues the Subaltern, " and arranging all 
things in the same order as if no change were to take place, regiment after 
regiment stole away, as soon as darkness concealed their motions; leaving 
the pickets to follow as a rear guard, but with strict injunctions not to re- 
tire till daylight began to appear. As may be supposed, the most profound 
silence was maintained ; not a man opening his mouth, except to issue 
necessary orders, and even then speaking in a whisper. Not a cough or 
any other noise was to be heard from the head to the rear of the oolumn ; 
and even the steps of the soldiers were planted with care, to prevent the 
slightest stamping or echo. Nor was this extreme caution in any respect 
unnecessary. In spite of every endeavor to the contrary, a rumor of our 
intended movement had reached the Americans ; for we found them of 
late watchful and prying, whereas they had been formerly content to look 
only to themselves. 

" For some time, that is to say, while our route lay along the high road 
and beside the brink of the river, the march was agreeable enough ; but as 
soon as we began to enter upon the path through the marsh all comfort 
was at an end. Being constructed of materials so slight, and resting upon 
a foundation so infirm, the treading of the first corps unavoidably beat it to 
pieces ; those which followed were therefore compelled to flounder on in 
the best way they could ; and by the time the rear of the column gained 
the morass aU trace of a way had entirely disappeared. But not only were 
the reeds torn asunder and sunk by the pressure of those who had gone 
before, but the bog itself, which at first might have furnished a few spots 
of firm footing, was trodden into the consistency of mud. The consequence 
was that every step sank us to the knees, and frequently highei. Near the 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 263 

ditches, indeed, many spots occiin-ed which wo had the utmost difficulty in 
crossing at all ; and as the night was dark, there being no moon, nor any 
light except Avhat the stars supplied, it was difficult to select our steps, or 
even to follow those who calleii to us that they were safe on the opposite 
side. At one of these places I myself beheld an unfortunate wretch grad- 
ually sink until he totally disappeared. I saw liim flounder in, heaid Iiia 
cry for help, and ran forward with the intention of saving him ; but bnfore 
J had taken a second step, I myself sank at once as high as ihe breast. 
How I contrived to keep myself from smothering is more than I can tell, 
for I felt no sohd bottom under me, and continued slowly to go deeper and 
deeper, till the mud reached my arms. Instead of endeavoring to help the 
poor soldier, of whom nothing could now be seen except the head and 
hands, I was forced to beg assistance for Tnyself ; when a leathern canteen 
strap being thrown to me, I laid hold of it, and was dragged out, just as 
my fellow-sufferer became invisible. 

" Over roads such as these did we continue our journey during the 
whole of the night; and in the morning reached a place called Fisherman's 
Huts, upon the margin of the lake. The name is derived from a clump of 
mud-built cottages, situated in as complete a desert as the eye of man was 
ever pained by beholding. They stand close to the water, upon a part of 
the morass rather more firm than the rest. Not a tree or bush of any de- 
scription grows near them. As far as the eye could reach a perfect ocean 
of weeds everywhere presented itself, except on that side where a view of 
the lake changed without fertilizing the prospect. Were any set of human 
beings condemned to spend their lives here, I should consider their fate as 
a little superior to that of the solitary captive ; but during many months of 
the year these huts are wholly unoccupied, being erected, as fheir name de- 
notes, merely to shelter a few fishermen, while the fishing season lasts. 

'"Here at length we were ordered to halt; and perhaps I never rejoiced 
more sincerely at any order than at this. Wearied with my exertions, and 
oppressed with want of sleep, I threw myself upon the ground without so 
much as pulling off my muddy garments ; and in an instant all my cares 
and troubles were forgotten. Nor did I wake from that deep slumber for 
many hours, when I rose cold and stiff, and creeping beside a miserable 
fire of reeds, addressed myseff to the last morsel of salt pork which my 
wallet contained. 

" The whole army had now come up, the pickets having escaped w'th- 
out notice, or at least without annoyance. Forming along the brink of the 
lake, a line of outposts was planted, and the soldiers were commanded to 
make themselves as comfortable as they could. But, in truth, the word 
comfort is one which cannot in any sense be applied to people in such a 
situation. Without tents or huts of any description (for the few from which 
(lie place is named were occupied by the general and other heads of de- 



264 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

partraents), our bod was the morass, and our sole covering the clothus 
which had not quitted our backs for upwards of a month. Our fires, upon 
the size and goodness of which mucli of the soldier's happiness depends, 
were composed solely of reeds ; a species of fuel which, like straw, soon 
blazes up, and soon expires again, almost without communicating any de- 
gree of warmth. But, above all, our provisions were expended, and from 
what quarter to obtain an immediate supply it defied the most inventive 
genius to discover. Our sole dependence was upon the boats. Of these 
a flotilla lay ready to receive us, in which were embarked the black corps, 
with the forty-fourth, but they had brought with them only food for their 
own use. It was, therefore, necessary that they should reach the fleet and 
return again, before they could furnish us with what we so much wanted. 
But the distance to the nearest of the shipping could not be less than eighty 
miles, and if the weather should become boisterous, or the winds obsti- 
nately adverse, we might starve before any supply could arrive. 

" These numerous grievances were, however, without remedy, and we 
bore them Avith patience ; though for two whole days the only provisions 
issued to the troops were some crumbs of biscuit and a small allowance of 
rum. For my own part, I did not fare so badly as many others. Having 
been always fond of shooting, I took a firelock and went in pursuit of wild 
ducks, which abounded throughout the bog. Wandering along in this 
quest I reached a lake, by the margin of which I concealed myself, and 
waited for my prey ; nor was it long before I had an opportunity of firing. 
Several large flocks flew over me, and I was fortunate enough to kill three 
birds. But, alas ! those birds upon which I had already feasted in imagi- 
nation dropped into the water ; my dog, more tired than her master, would 
not fetch them out, and they lay about twenty yards off, tantalizing me 
with the sight of a treasure which I could not reach. Moving off to 
another point, I again took my station, where I hoped for better fortune ; 
but the same evil chance once more occurred, and the ducks fell into the 
lake. This Avas too much for a hungry man to endure ; the day was 
piercingly cold, and the edge of the pool was covered with ice ; but my 
appetite was urgent, and I resolved at all hazards to indulge it. Pulling 
off" my clothes, therefore, I broke the ice and plunged iu; and, though 
shivering like an aspen leaf, I returned safely to the camp with a couple 
of birds. Next day I adopted a similar course with like success ; but at 
the expense of what was to me a serious misery. My stockings of warm 
wool were the only part of my dress which I did not strip oft^ and to-day 
it unibitnnately happened that one was lost. Having secured my ducks, 
I attempted to land where the bottom was muddy, but my leg stuck fast, 
and in pulling it out, off came the stocking ; to recover it was beyond my 
power, for the mud closed over it directly, and the consequence was, that 
till I regai5ied the transport only one of my feet could be warm at a timti 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 265 

To those who can boast of many pairs of fine cotton and woolen hose this 
misfortune of mine may appear light, but to me, who had only two stock- 
ings on shore, the loss of one was very grievous ; and I therefore request 
that I may not be sneered at when I record it as one of the disastrous 
consequences of this ill-fated expedition. 

" As soon as the boats returned, regiment after regiment embarked and 
set sail for the fleet; but the distance being considerable and the wind foul, 
many days elapsed before the whole could be got off. Excepting in one 
trifling instance, however, no accident occurred, and by the end of the 
month we were all once more on board our former ships. But our return 
was far from triumphant. We, who only seven weeks ago had set out in 
the surest confidence of glory, and, I may add, of emolument, were brought 
back dispirited and dejected. Our ranks were wofully thinned, our chiefs 
slain, our clothing tattered and filthy, and even our discipline in some de- 
gree injured. A gloomy silence reigned tliroughout the armament, except 
when it Avas broken by the voice of lamentation over fallen friends ; and 
the interior of each ship presented a scene well calculated to prove the 
short-sightedness of human hope and human prudence. 

" The accident to which I allude was the capture of a single boat by 
the enemy. About thirty men of the 14th dragoons having crowded into 
an unarmed barge, were proceeding slowly down the lake, when a boat, 
mounting a carronade in its bow, suddenly darted from a creek and made 
towards them. To escape was impossible, for their barge was too heavily 
laden to move at a rate of even moderate rapidity; and to fight was 
equally out of the question, because of the superiority which their cannon 
gave to the Americans. The whole party was accordingly compelled to 
surrender to six men and an officer, and, having thrown their arms into 
the lake, their boat was taken in tow, and they were carried away pris- 
oneis. 

" This, however, was the only misfortune which occurred. Warned by 
the fate of their comrades, the rest kept together in little squadrons, each 
attended by one or more armed launches ; and, thus rowing steadily on, 
they gained the shipping, without so much as another attempt at surprisal 
being made. 

" On reacliing the fleet we found that a considerable reinforcement of 
troops had arrived from England. It consisted of the 40th foot, a fine regi- 
ment, containing nearly a thousand men, which, ignorant of the fatal issue 
of our attack, had crossed the lakes, only to be sent back to the ships, 
without so much as stepping on shore. The circumstance, however, pro- 
duced little satisfaction. We felt that the coming of thrice the number 
could not recover what was lost, or recall past events ; and therefore no 
rejoicing was heard, nor the slightest regard paid to the occurrence. Nay, 
so great was the despondency wliich had taken possession of men's mind.", 



266 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

that not even a rumor respecting the next point of attack obtained circu- 
lation ; whilst a sullen carelessness, a sort of indifference as to what might 
happen, seemed to have succeeded all our wonted curiosity and confidence 
of success in every undertaking." 



With this ignominious wallow in the mire, (" the whole 
army," as another narrator remarks, " covered with mud from 
the top of the head to the sole of the foot,") the Wellington 
heroes ended their month's exertions in the delta of the Mis- 
sissippi. They were in mortal terror of the crocodiles, it ap- 
pears, whose domain they had intruded upon. "Just before 
dark," on the night after the retreat, says Captain Cooke, " I 
saw an alligator emerge from the water and j^enetrate the 
wilderness of reeds which encircled us on this muddy quag- 
mire as far as the eye could reach. The very idea of the 
monster prowling about in the stagnant swamp took posses- 
sion of my mind in a most forcible manner — to look out for 
the enemy was a secondary consideration. The word was, 
look out for alligators ! Nciu-ly the whole night I stood a 
few paces from the entrance of the hut, not daring to enter, 
under the ajDprehension that an alligator might push a broad 
snout through the reeds and gobble me up. The soldiers 
slept in a lump. At length, being quite worn out from want 
of sleep, I summoned up courage to enter the hut, but often 
started wildly out of my feverish slumbers, involuntarily lay- 
ing hold of my naked sword, and conjuring up every rustling 
noise amongst the reeds to be one of those disgusting brutes, 
•with a mouth large enough to swallow an elephant's leg." 

The retreat was so well managed (G-eneral Lambert was 
knighted for it soon after) that the sun was high in the 
heavens on the following morning before the American army 
had any suspicion of the departure of the enemy. And when 
it began to be suspected some further time elapsed before the 
fact was ascertained. Their camp presented the same appear- 
ance as it had for many days previous. Sentinels seemed to 
be posted as before, and flags were flying. The American 
General and his aids, from the high window at headquarters, 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 267 

surveyed the position through the glass, and were inclined to 
think that the enemy were only lying low, with a view to 
draw the troops out of the lines into the open plain. The 
veteran Grcneral Humhert surpassed the acuteness of the back- 
woodsmen on this occasion. Being called upon for his opin- 
ion, he took the glass and spied the deserted camp. 

" They are gODC," said he, with the air of a man who is 
certain of his fact. 

''How do you know ?" inquired the General. 

The old * soldier replied by directing attention to a crow 
that was flying close to what had been supposed to be one of 
the enemy's sentinels. The proximity of the crow showed 
that the sentinel was a "dummy," and so ill-made, too, that 
it was not even a good scare-crow.* The game was now ap- 
parent ; yet the General ordered out a party to reconnoiter. 
While it was forming, a British medical officer approached 
the lines bearing a letter from General Lambert, which an- 
nounced his departure and recommended to the humanity of 
the American commander the eighty wounded men who were 
necessarily left behind. There could now be little doubt of 
the retreat ; but Jackson was still wary, and restrained the 
exultant impetuosity of the men, who were disposed at once 
to visit the abandoned camp. Sending Major Hinds' dragoons 
to harrass the retreat of the army, if it had not already gone 
beyond reach, and dispatching his surgeon-general to the 
wounded soldiers left to his care, the General himself, with 
his staif, rode to the enemy's camp. He saw that, indeed, 
they had departed, and that his own triumph was complete 
and irreversible. Fourteen pieces of cannon were found de- 
serted and spoiled, and much other property, public and pri- 
vate. For one item, three thousand cannon balls were picked 
up in the field, and piled behind the American ramparts by 
the Kentuckian troops. 

The General visited the hospital and assured the wounded 
officers and soldiers of his protection and care, a promise which 
was promptly and amply fulfilled. " The circumstances of 

* JacksoQ and New Orleans, page 382. 



268 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

these wounded men," says Mr. Walker, " being made known 
in the city, a number of ladies rode down in their carriages 
with such articles as were deemed essential to the comfort of 
the unfortunates. One of these ladies was a belle of the city, 
famed for her charms of person and mind. Seeing her noble 
philanthropy and devotion to his countrymen, one of the 
British surgeons conceived a warm regard and admiration, 
which subsequent acquaintance ripened into love. This sur- 
geon settled in New Orleans after the war, espoused the Creole 
lady whose acquaintance he had made under sucH interesting 
circumstances, and became an esteemed citizen and the father 
of a large family. Dr. J. C. Kerr was the hero of this roman- 
tic story. He lived until within these few yeai's. A son of 
his was that Victor Kerr who was executed at Havana with 
General Lopez and Colonel Crittenden in 1851, his last woi*ds, 
" I die like a Louisianian and a freeman \" 

The English carried away with them a number of slaves 
in spite of themselves. Captain Hill explains how this oc- 
curred in, at least, one instance : " On the 14th of January," 
he says, " a general order appeared, intimating that no slave 
should be taken away, or liberated by the British force, and 
requesting that no officer would take a black inhabitant into 
his service. As soon as my man. Turner, had communicated 
this to my man Friday, he was thrown into a state bordering 
on madness : he vowed, by all the saints in the calendar — for 
George was a rigid Eoman Catholic, and held in utter abhor- 
rence the wooden idols of Africa — that, if he could not get 
away from the power of his old master and follow his new 
one, he would ' incontinently drown himself.' It was in vain 
that Turner explained to him that I should be subject to 
much blame in not obeying orders, and stay behind he must. 

" Neber, Massa Turner, neber ! If dat debil of Scotch 
Yankee, dat I run away from, in New Orleans, catch me, he 
kill me for true, but not all in one day ; he skin me alive wid 

dog whip, and den show him teeth, and put pickle to 

my back, say do me good. No, Massa Turner, you tell de 
captain when he go, give me wink of him eye, den I know 



1815.J FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 269 

what do ; I go before, nobody angry den, cause he no take 
me ; me savez ver well how go George, swim like fish. Me 
, if me stop !' 

" The boy had proved so useful, and appeared so much 
attached to me, that I felt quite desirous to save him from 
the vengeance of his late employer, and, unwilling to be guilty 
of a breach of discipline, thought the best plan I could adopt 
was to give George his own way in the matter." 

It will interest every reader to learn what were the pri- 
vate thouglits and feelings of General Jackson in view of the 
departure of the Eaglish army. January 27th, with his own 
hand, he wrote a hasty letter to Governor Blount of Tennes- 
see, of which the following is a copy : — 

GENEKAL JACKSON TO GOVERNOR BLOUNT. 

"Headquarters, New Orleans, l 
January 2 7 th, 1815. ) 

" Sir : I inclose you a paper that contains my address and general orders 
to the brave army I had the honor to command on the 8th instant. In 
addition, I have to state that the prisoners taken on the retreat of the 
enemy state their whole loss, including killed, wounded, and missing, is 
estimated at six thousand five hundred, and that Keane is dead of his 
wounds. When the numbers are known that were in action on our side, 
and those badly armed, it will not be accredited, and particularly when the 
loss of the enemy is compared with my loss, which in killed, since the land- 
ing of the enemy, does not exceed fifty-six. The unerring hand of Pro- 
vidence shielded my men from the showers of balls, bombs, and rockets; 
when, on the other hand, it appeared that every ball and bomb from our 
liues was charged with the mission of death. The spirit of the British in 
tills quarter is broken ; they have failed in every attempt. They bom- 
barded Fort St. Philip for nine days, throwing upwards of one thousand 
large bombs, exclusive of small ones, with no other effect than killing two 
and wounding seven ; five of the latter so slightly that they are reported 
for duty. 

"Mr. Shields, purser of the navy, brave and full of enterprise, got a few 
volunteers, and with four small boats pursued them as they were embark- 
ing, took a transport and burned her, several small boats, and one hundred 
and odd prisoners. For the want of force he was compelled to parole a 
number ; bringing with him in all seventy prisoners, including two oflfioers 



270 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

They have lost all their valuable officers and the flower of their army. 
This argument will have greater weight at Ghent than any other, and I 
view it as the harbinger of peace. When you see the bravery cf your 
countrymen you must feel proud that you govern such a people ! They 
are worthy to be free. General Coffee's brigade for the whole time liter- 
ally lay in a swamp, knee deep in mud and water, and the whole of General 
Carroll's line but little better. Still they maintained their position without 
a murmur. Three thousand stand of arms more than I had on the 8th 
would, in my opinion, have placed the whole British array in my hands. 
But the Lord's will be done. Yours, etc., 

''Andrew Jackson. 

"P. S. — I have had but few minutes of ease, and for some days bad 
health, but am better. 

"P. S. — The picket guard state that they lost sight of the last sail of the 
British at half after eleven o'clock, a. m. ; and Louisiana may again say her 
soil is not trodden by the sacrilegious footsteps of a hostile Briton. They 
were steering for Ship Island. Where destined from thence uncertain," 

The joy of the army at the retreat of the enemy was ex- 
treme, since it was not only the assurance of their victory, but 
also gave them the near prospect of quarters more healthful 
and comfortable. The next few days were reward enough, 
they thought, for all that they had done and suffered. 

The first public act of the General, after he returned from 
his \dsit to the British camp, was to address the following 
letter to the Abbe Dubourg, the chief of the Catholic clergy 
in Louisiana : — 

" Reverend Sir : The signal interposition of Heaven, in giving success 
to our arms against the enemy, who so lately landed on our shores — an 
enemy as powerful as inveterate in his hatred — while it must excite in 
every bosom attached to the happy government under which we live emo- 
tions of the liveliest gratitude, requires at the same time some external 
manifestation of those feeUngs. 

" Permit me, therefore, to entreat that you will cause the service of 
public thanksgiving to be performed in the cathedral, in token of the great 
assistance we have received from the Ruhr of all events^ and of our humble 
sense of it." 

He next began to make preparations for leading the main 
body of his army out of their quagmire camp to New Oi'leans. 



1815.] FLIGHTH OF THE ENGLISH. 271 

A strong guard was organized for the occupation of the 
enemy's abandoned camp. A considerable force, too, was 
designated to guard the lines, a return of the enemy being 
still possible^ The rest of the army were to march back in 
triumph to New Orleans on the 21st, two days after the de- 
parture of the foe. 

The twentieth of January must have been a busy day 
with the General's secretaries at headquarters. There was 
much writing done that day. It was one of Jackson's con- 
spicuous merits as a military commander, as we have shown 
before, that he made the pen nobly cooperate with the sword. 
He seems to have arrived instinctively at Napoleon's immor- 
tal maxim, that in war (as in every province of human exer- 
tion) moral force is to physical as three to one. To-day, 
therefore, he spends many hours in drawing up a general 
order — a permanent roll of honor, which was a source of last- 
ing happiness to many brave men and to their friends. In 
this document, every corps which had served during the siege, 
every commanding officer, every subaltern who had distin- 
guished himself, the physicians, the Greneral's aids and secre- 
taries, several privates and unattached volunteers, were men- 
tioned by name, and honored with a few words of generally 
well-discriminated compliment. The oflScers who had fallen 
in action received also a kindly tribute. This paper contains 
seventy names. Hundreds of the descendants of the men 
thus distinguished still cherish it with gratitude and pride. 
" To the whole army," the order concluded, " the General 
presents the assurance of his official approbation, and of his 
individual regard. This splendid campaign will be considered 
as entitling every man who has served in it to the salutation 
of his brother in arms." 

But this was not enough to satisfy the commander-in- 
chief. The general order, though it recognized the merits 
of the rank and file, was chiefly interesting to the seventy 
men whose names it mentioned. Something was required in 
which every man in the army could equally share. Accord- 
ingly, the General caused to be prepared an address, recount- 



272 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

ing in glowing words tlie leading events of the campaign, and 
taunting the enemy with the miserable frustration of their 
designs. On the morning of the twenty-first, when the army 
was drawn up for the last time behind the lines, this burning 
address was read at the head of each corps, kindling an en- 
thusiasm that prepared all ranks for the scenes that were to 
follow. 

When the address concluded, the army broke into march- 
ing order, and began its triumphal return to New Orleans, 
which tlie General had not once visited during the campaign. 
It was a great and memorable day both to citizens and sol- 
diers, 

" The arrival of the army," says Major Latour, who saw 
the spectacle, " was a triumph. The non-combatant part of 
the population of New Orleans, that is, the aged, the infirm, 
the matrons, daughters and children, all went out to meet 
their deliverers, to receive with felicitations the saviours of 
their country. Every countenance was expressive of grati- 
tude — -joy sparkled in every feature on beholding fathers, 
brothers, husbands, sons, who had so recently saved the lives, 
fortunes and honor of their families, by repelling an enemy 
come to conquer and subjugate the country. Nor were the 
sensations of the brave soldiers less lively on seeing them- 
selves about to be compensated for all their sufferings by the 
enjojTuent of domestic felicity. They once more embraced 
the objects of their tenderest affections, were hailed by them 
as their saviours and deliverers, and felt conscious that they 
had deserved the honorable title. How light, how trifling, 
how inconsiderable did their past toils and dangers appear to 
them at this glorious moment ! All was forgotten, all pain- 
ful recollections gave way to the most exquisite sensations of 
inexpressible joy." 

The Abbe Dubourg responded to the General's letter by 
appointing the 23d of the month for the performance of tlie 
Te Deum in the cathedral, and the citizens prepared for the 
occasion a splendid pageant, wliich displayed the talent of the 
French in devising emblematic shows. 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 273 

" A temporary arch," continues Major Latour, " was 
erected in the middle of the grand square, opposite the prin- 
cipal entrance of the cathedral. The diiFerent uniformed com- 
panies of Blanche's battalion lined both sides of the way, from 
the entrance of the square towards the river to the church. The 
balconies of the windows of the city hall, the parsonage house, 
and all the adjacent buildings, were filled with spectators. 
The whole square, and the streets leading to it, were thronged 
with people. The triumphal arch was sui)ported by six col- 
umns. Amongst those on the right was a young lady repre- 
senting Justice, and on the left another representing Liberty. 
Under the arch were two young children, each on a pedestal, 
holding a crown of laurel. From the arch in the middle of 
the square to the church, at proper intervals, were ranged 
young ladies, rej^ resenting the difl'erent States and territories 
composing the American Union, all dressed in white, covered 
with transparent veils, and wearing a silver star on their 
foreheads. Each of these young ladies held in her right hand 
a flag, inscribed with the name of the State she represented, 
and in her left a basket trimmed with blue ribands and full 
of flowers. Behind each was a shield suspended on a lance 
stuck in the ground, inscribed with the name of a State or 
territory. The intervals had been so calculated that the 
shields, linked together with verdant festoons, occupied the 
distance from the triumphal arch to the church. 

" General Jackson, accompanied by the officers of his stalf, 
arrived at the entrance of the square, where he was requested 
to proceed to the church by the walk prepared for him. As 
he passed under the arch he received the crowns of laurel 
from the two children, and was congratulated in an address 
spoken by Miss Kerr, who represented the State of Louisiana. 
The General then proceeded to the church, amidst the salu- 
tations of the young ladies representing the different States, 
who strewed his passage with flowers. At the entrance of the 
church he was received by the Abbe Dubourg, who addressed 
him in a speech suitable to the occasion, and conducted him 
to a seat prepared for him near the altar. Te Deum was 

VOL. II. — 18 



274 LIFE OF ANDBEW JACKSON. [1815. 

chanted with impressive solemnity, and soon after a guard 
of honor attended the General to his quarters, and in the 
evening the town, with its suburhs, was splendidly illumin- 
ated." 

The General's reply to the Ahbo Dubourg's fine address 
was worthy of the occasion and of himself. "General Jack- 
son knew well how to do a 'pretty thing,'" remarked to me 
a lady who heard him respond on this occasion, and beheld 
with admiration the courtly grace and dignity of his manner : 

"Reverend Sir," began the General, with an imperial bow, "I receive 
with gratitude and pleasure the symbolical crown which piety has prepared ; 
I receive it in the name of the brave men who have so effectually seconded 
my exertions for the preservai on of their country — they well deserve the 
laurels which their country will bestow. 

" For myself, to have been instrumental in the deliverance of such a 
country is the greatest blessing that heaven could confer. That it has been 
effected with so little loss — that so few tears should cloud the smiles of our 
triumph, and not a cypress leaf be interwoven in the wreath which you 
present, is a source of the most exquisite enjoyment. 

" I thank you, reverend sir, most sincerely for the prayers wliich you 
offer up for my happiness. May those your patriotism dictates for our be- 
loved country be first heard. And may mine for your individual pros- 
perity, as well as that of the congregation committed to your care, be 
favorably received — the prosperity, the wealth, the happiness of this city 
will then be commensurate with the courage and other qualities of its in- 
habitants." 

The day and night were given up to pleasure both by the 
soldiers and the people. The next day discipline resumed its 
sway. The Tennessee troops were encamped on their old 
ground above the city. New troops kept coming by squads 
and companies, and the boat-load of arms arrived for them. 
The General addressed himself to the task of rendering the 
country secure against a second surprise, in case the enemy 
should attempt a landing elsewhere. New works were or- 
dered in exposed localities. New Orleans was saved, but the 
southwest was still the country menaced, and it was not to 
be supposed that the British fleet and army, reinforced by a 
thousand new troops, would retire from the coast without an 



1815.] FLIGHT OF THE ENGLISH. 275 

attempt to retrieve Ihe campaign. Not a thought, not the 
faintest presentiment of immediate peace occurred to any one. 
The question was, not whether the enemy would make a new 
attempt, hut whether New Orleans or Mobile would he its 
object. A day or two after the public entry into the city, 
General Jackson dispatched his friend and comrade, Colonel 
Arthur P. Hayne, to Washington, bearing orders most hon- 
orable to both. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO COLONEL A, P. HAYNE. 

"Headquarters, New Orleans, i 
25th January, 1815. f 

" Sir : — It is my desire, when you arrive at Washington, that you would 
impress on the mind of the Secretary of War the necessity of expediting 
regular troops to the defense of this district. General Coffee's brigade will 
be entitled to honorable discharge on the 20th of March — General Carroll's 
division about the 15th of May; — and General Thomas' detachment from 
Kentucky about the same time. The present regular force does not exceed 
six hundred effectives. 

" Prevented by motives of delicacy and other causes, I have not made 
those discriminations, nor urged those pretensions which the respective 
merits of officers required. I must therefore request you to mention the 
names of Major Peire and Captains Butler and Baker of the forty-fourth 
regiment, and of acting Lieutenant Call, as worthy of promotion. Cap- 
tains Montgomery, Vail and Allen, of the seventh regiment, acted well 
during the whole campaign. They are certainly good captains, and merit 
promotion. Too much praise can not be bestowed on Captain Humphrey 
and Lieutenant Spotts of the artillery — Humphrey ought to be at the head 
of a regiment, and the latter of a company. I can not omit to mention the 
names of the Adjutant General, Colonel Robert Butler, and his Assistant 
Adjutant General, Major Chotard, also the Assistant Inspector General, 
Major Davis, and my two aids, Captains fieid and Butler. From the re- 
port of Major Overton, Captains Woolstonecraft, Murray and White ought 
to be noticed, and the major is worthy to command a regiment. The brave 
defenders of Fort Bowyer have been too long neglected. Their gallantry 
at one moment saved that section of the country. 

" From General Coffee's brigade I am satisfied most valuable ofScers 
might be selected. The general would be a most valuable brigadier. Colo- 
aels Dyer, Elliot and Gibson are men of the utmost bravery. Captain 
Parish would do honor to the head of a company in any army. Captain 
Martin would, I have no doubt, command a company we]\ The govern- 



276 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

ment and the world are sensible of the high opinion I entertain of General 
Carroll. General Adair is certainly a valuable officer, and ought to be no- 
ticed. As a brigadier, his superior is perhaps nowhere t»> be found. In 
General Coflfee's brigade, there are Captain Donalson, of the rangers, and 
Captain Hutchins, of the mounted gunmen, whose names I have omitted 
asking you to mention, because they are my near connections. 

" Any officers whose merit you may have noticed, and no doubt there 
are many such, you will be good enough to do justice to, and, for God's 
sake, entreat the Secretary of War not to yield too much, in time to come, 
to recommendations of mevibers of Congress. He must be sensible of the 
motives from which, for the most part, such recommendations proceed, and 
events have too often and too sadly proved how little merit they imply. 

" To all matters connected with the welfare and defense of tliis district 
you will hare the goodness to direct the attention of the Secretary of War; 
and be assured, sir, when you are thus about to leave me at the close of a 
campaign which has been so full of interest, and to the successful prosecu- 
tion of which your skill and courage have so much contributed, I should do 
no less injustice to my own feelings than to your merits did I not return 
you my warmest acknowledgments. Be assured, sir, wherever you go, you 
carry with you my high sense of your services, my thanks for them, and 
my prayers for your prosperity. I am your friend, 

"Andrew Jackson, 

" Major General Commanding. 

'' For Colonel ARTntm P. Hayne, 

" Inspector General, Southern Division, etc., etc., New Orleans."* 

General Jackson, we see, was still a busy and an anxious 
man. He stood, moreover, on the verge of a sea of troubles, 
unexpected and exasperating. 

Before entering with him into that tempestuous flood, the 
course of our narrative diverges, for a moment, to another 
scene, a scene without a parallel in the history of the United 
States, which will require the reader's best attention, and ex- 
cite in him various thoughts. 

* Sketch of the Life and Military Services of Arthur P. Hayne. Ne^ 
Tork: 1852. 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 277 

CHAPTER XXII. 

EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 

On the twenty-first of February, 1815, wlien the northern 
States were in the first ecstacies of peace, the "scene" just 
alluded to occurred. The place was Mobile, then threatened 
by the British fleet, which had taken Fort Bowyer nine days 
before, and thus had Mobile at its mercy. The news of 
peace, which reached the British general by a ship direct from 
England, arrested his career of conquest, but was still un- 
known to the Americans on shore. A rumor of peace may 
have reached Greneral Winchester, who commanded at Mo- 
bile ; but the arrival of the most certain intelligence of it 
could not then have averted the catastrophe now to be re- 
lated. The fiat of doom had gone forth. On the twenty- 
second of January, the day before General Jackson went to 
the cathedral and was crowned with laurel, and spoke his 
answer to the Abb^ Dubourg, he signed the order which this 
day was to be carried into effect. 

Six coffins were placed in a row, several feet apart, in an 
open place near the village of Mobile. A large body of 
troops, perhaps fifteen hundred in number, were drawn up so 
that a view of the spectacle was afibrded to all. Other on- 
lookers, a great concourse, were assembled, who stood in 
groups wherever the cofiins could be seen. After an interval 
of waiting, a large country wagon drove up, containing six 
prisoners bound, escorted by a military guard. The wagon 
was driven into the center of the troops by the side of the 
coffins, where it stopped, and the men alighted, and each 
was placed next to one of the coffins. One or two of the 
men were visibly agitated ; the rest were firm and composed. 
Colonel Russell, who commanded on this occasion, addressed 
them in an under tone : 

" You are about to die by the sentence of a court-martial. 
Die like men — like soldiers. You have been brave in the 



278 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

field. You have fought well. Do no discredit to your coun- 
try, or dishonor to the army or yourselves by any unmanly 
fears. Meet your fate with courage." 

One of the prisoners, John Hams by name, a poor illiter- 
ate Baptist preacher, the father of nine children, several of 
whom were very young, a weak, heavy-laden man, who had 
enlisted for the purpose of accompanying his son to the wars, 
was still unable to control his emotions. He continued to 
apologize for what he had done, and wept bitterly as he 
spoke. 

Another of the prisoners, Henry Lewis, replied to Colonel 
Russell's exhortation in these words : 

" Colonel, I have served my country well. I love it 
dearly, and would if I could, serve it longer and better. I 
have fought bravely — you know I have ; and here I have a 
right to say so myself. I would not wish to die in this way" 
— here his voice faltered, and he hastily brushed a tear from 
his eyes, — " I did not expect it. But I am now as firm as I 
have been on the day of battle, and you shall see that I will 
die as becomes a soldier. You know I am a brave man." 

" Yes, Lewis," said the Colonel, " you have always be- 
haved like a brave man." 

Other words were spoken by the doomed men, whom 
Colonel Russell continued to exhort and console. He soon 
retired to his place, and left the prisoners standing by their 
coffins, awaiting the final preparations. 

These fragments of conversation give us some insight into 
the character of the men about to die. We have other 
sources of information. One of the condemned, David Hunt, 
on the morning of this day, wrote the following letter to his 
parents : — 

" Dear Father and Mother : Before this reaches you I shall be laid 
ia the silent grave. This day, between the hours of two and foul 
o'clock, I expect to die an innocent death. The doleful sentence of death 
is pronounced against me and five other militia men. I thank God thaf I 
nave an interest in the blood of Jesus Christ. Dear brothers, these are the 
dying words of your affectionate brother. I want you to prepare to meet 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN, 279 

» 

ine in glory. I expect to see 3^011 no more on this earth. Dear brothers 
and sisters, I lequest you all not to live in sin, but forsake your iniquities, 
for the day of death is a melancholy one to those who have no God. It 
is my prayer to God, for Christ's sake, for you all to be saved. Dear 
father, I want you to pay Joseph Bowton one dollar for me. I wish you 
to go to Squire Edwards, and get a power of attorney to draw my pay for 
my services ; likewise collect the note you have of mine. I write no more. 
Time is growing sliDrt. I leave you all in the hands of that ever blessed 
Jesus, who is able ;o save to the uttermost all who put their trust in him. 
Dear father and mother, brothers and sisters, I bid you all farewell, until 
we meet in the ha]ipy regions above." 

The last leti.er of poor Hanis is also extant, duly certified. 
It contains about fifty mistakes in spelling and punctuation, 
which are here corrected : — 

" Deae Wife : [ take the opportunity of writing to you for the last time, 
as I expect, and am well at present ; thanks be to God for his rnei'cies ; 
and I hope these lines may find you and all the rest in health. I did not 
expect to have had this awful news to write to you. But my sentence is 
come, and to-morrow I have to encounter death. To-morrow by twelve 
o'clock, which is an awful tiling to think of. And I know your tenderness 
to me as a wife to a husband has been so great that it must be a grief to 
you, and as such I wish you to meet it with as much fortitude as possible. 
I hope we shall meet again in the worlds above. I wish you to do all you 
can to keep my children together, if possible. James* has promised me that 
he will stay with you, and I hope that my other two sons, Charles and 
John, will do all they can to keep their little sisters and brothers from suf- 
fering. I wish you, as soon as James returns, to move into the settle- 
ments, and do the best you can for yourselves. It grieves me hard to part 
with you all. But I must resign to God ; and we have to part some time. 
And as such I hope you will bring my little son up in the fear of God, and 
my little daughters also, which, from your conduct, I have no reason to 
doubt. But, my little sons, you are young, and growing up into life. Be 
careful of what kind of company you keep, and never bring yourselves to 
any disgrace. Learn in time of youth to love both grace and truth. Mr 
mind is pestered, and I cannot write as I would wish. Eemember me tc 
all inquiring friends. So, my dear wife and children, I bid you adieu. 
This from your loving husband and father until death." 

* A son of Harris, serving iu the same regiment as his father, and with his 
Jatber when this was written. 



280 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

The execution proceeded. The prisoners were hlindfolded, 
and each man knelt upon his coffin. Thirty-six soldiers were 
detailed, and drawn up before them ; six to fire at each. The 
signal was given, and the bloody deed was done. All the 
prisoners fell dead instantly except Lewis, who, though pierced 
with four balls, raised his head, and, finally, crawled wpon his 
coffin. The officer in comma'" d approached him. 

" Colonel," said Lewis, " I am not killed, but I am sadly 
cut and mangled. Colonel, did I not behave well ?" 

" Yes, Lewis ; like a man," replied Colonel Russell, with 
faltering voice. 

" Well, sir," said Lewis, " have I atoned for my ofiense ? 
Shall I not live ?" 

The colonel, with cruel kindness, granted the poor fellow's 
prayer so far as to order a surgeon to do all he could to save 
his life. But the case was past surgery. He lingered four 
days in extreme agony, and then died.--' 

Such was the execution of the six militia men, with which, 
as elderly readers remember, the country rang for several 
years of General Jackson's life. Such was the result of the 
mutiny at Fort Jackson on the 19th and 20th of September, 
1814, to which allusion has before been made in these pages. 

To justify such an unexampled slaughter of American 
citizens the strongest 2)ossible proof, both of guilt and of ne- 
cessity, must be adduced. In search of which we resort, first, 
to the Proceedings of the Court-Martial which tried and con- 
demned thos,e men ; ■ proceedings published in full, by order 
of Congress, in the year 1828, forming, with the accompanying 
documents, a volume of considerable magnitude. As usual 
in such cases of voluminous publication by Congress the 
essence of the matter can be given in a very few words. 

The mutiny occurred on the 19th and 20th of September, 
1814. During the two months following. General Jackson 
was absorbed in the defense of Mobile and the invasion of 

* Narrative of an Eye-Witness, in Newspapers, supported by affidavits of 
the relatives of the men executed. KepubUshed in Pamphlet at Washington in 
1628. 



1815.] EXECUTIO]^ OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 281 

Florida. November the 22d he left Mobile for New Orleans, 
leaving the affair of the court-martial in the hands of subor- 
dinate officers. The order for the convening of the court- 
martial, dated November 21st, the day before the General's 
departure, was in the terms following : 

" A general court-martial, to consist of five members and two super- 
numeraries, will convene at Mobile, at such time as Lieutenant Colonel 
Arbuckle shall direct, for the trial of such prisoners as may be brought be- 
fore it. Colonel P. Perkins (of the Tennessee militia) is hereby appointed 
President of the Court, and Lieutenant W. L. Robeson (of the 3d regiment 
of Tennessee infantry) will act as 'Judge Advocate. Colonel Pipkin, of tlie 
1st regiment of West Tennessee militia (the mutinous regiment) will detail 
the members from the Tennessee State troops at or near Port Montgom- 
ery ; order on all the witnesses necessary for the trial of the prisoners of his 
regiment at this place : also, furnish specific charges against them ; and, 
lastly, will notify Lieutenant Colonel Arbuckle of the probable time they 
will reach this point, to enable him to regulate the hour of sitting." 

The court-martial convened on the 5th of December, and 
consisted of the following officers : Colonel Perkins, ]oresi- 
dent ; members, Major William C. Smart, Captain James 
Blackmore, Captain William M'Cay, and Lieutenant James 
Boyd ; supernumeraries, Lieutenant Daniel Mitchel, and En- 
sign Thomas H. Mitchell. All of these were officers of the 
Tennessee militia, comrades, in the pioneer sense of the word, 
of the men whom they were to try. 

The first prisoner presented for trial was John Strother, 
captain of one of the mutineer companies of the first regi- 
ment. He was accused, first, of "Exciting to Mutiny," by 
saying, in the hearing of his men, that " there was no law to 
compel them to serve longer than three months, and that un- 
less he was shown a better law than he had seen, he should 
march his company home at the end of that time." He was 
also accused of " Conniving at Mutiny," in not reporting to 
his commanding officer the use of similar words on the part 
of the troops, and in saying that "if he was the lieutenant 
he would march his company home on the 20th of September." 

Twenty- three witnesses testified in the case of Captain 



282 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

Strotlier, of whom one only stated, unequivocally, that he had 
heard Captain Strother use the language attributed to iiim. 
This single witness was David Morrow, a sergeant of Strother's 
company, himself accused, and one of the six who were shot ! 
He certainly had the strongest conceivable interest in estab- 
lishing the charge that his own captain had countenanced the 
mutiny. Fifteen witnesses swore that they had heard Captain 
Strother employ language of a directly contrary purport to 
that given in the accusation ; that he had, many times, and 
in various ways, urged the men to stay six months in service, 
and not to think of going home before. A letter from Cap- 
tain Strother to his brother-in-law was produced, in which 
he said, " Try and stop that simple notion the men have of 
breaking off on the 20th of this month to go home.'' Three 
officers testified that Captain Strother had asked their opin- 
ion upon the vexed question, whether three months or six 
was the legal term of service. Major Hicks testified that 
Strother had borrowed of him the laws relating to the terms 
of service, and had satisfied himself of the right of the gov- 
ernment to retain his men in service six months. Colonel 
Pipkin said, that at the time of the final outbreak he heard 
the prisoner say to the mutineers : " Have you no breeding ? 
You act like a parcel of savages. Let me hear no more of it." 
Colonel Pipkin also stated that Strother had reported to him 
the mutinous spirit that prevailed among the troops, though 
not till five days before the mutiny. 

This was the substance of the evidence against Captain 
Strother. It proved that he had been in doubt as to the le- 
gality of the term of six months ; that that doubt had been 
removed by an examination of the law ; that he had habitu- 
ally discountenanced the " simple notion" of breaking off at 
the end of three months ; but that he had done this in the 
familiar, unauthoritative manner which generally character- 
ized the intercourse between officers and men in a western 
army at that day. Upon being asked what he had to say in 
Ms own defense, he replied, that he was conscious of his 
innocence, and willingly submitted his case to the decision 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 283 

of the court, for them to do equal justice to himself and his 
country. The court pronounced him guilty of "Exciting to 
Mutiny," and sentenced him to be " dismissed the service as 
unworthy of holding a commission in the army of the United 
States." The sentence may have been just, but it is not jus- 
tified by the recorded testimony. 

Lieutenant James McCauley, the next prisoner tried, was 
arraigned on three charges : First, Exciting to Mutiny, by 
saying, in the hearing of troops, that " the opinion of the 
United States Attorney for the State of Virginia was noth- 
ing but newspaper law ;" second. Conniving at Mutiny, by 
giving directions to some of the mutineers to put into his 
knapsack his share of the provisions forcibly taken by them 
from the issuing house for the march homeward, and by say- 
ing that he would be with them in a few days, as he should 
be detained in camp a short time longer by business ; third, 
Disobedience to Orders, in not exerting himself to prevent or 
suppress the mutiny. 

David Morrow was again the principal witness against the 
accused, and his evidence was corroborated in part by John 
Harris, whose last letter the reader has just perused. Eight 
witnesses swore that they 'had heard McCauley advise the 
men to stay the full six mouths claimed by the colonel of the 
regiment. The testimony, upon the whole, showed that the 
prisoner had sympathized with the mutineers ; that he had 
not concealed this sympathy ; that he had opposed the de- 
parture of the troops languidly ; and that he took no active 
measures of any kind to prevent it. The court pronounced 
him guilty of all the charges, and sentenced him to be dis- 
missed the service, to have his sword broken over his back, 
and to be forever disqualified from holding a commission in 
the army of the United States. 

The next person arraigned was James Webb, a private in 
Captain Strother's company, charged with desertion, mutiny, 
and robbery. It was proved that Webb, late on the nine- 
teenth of September, the day before the expiration of the 
three months ^ had refused to go on duty as a sentinel, though. 



284 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

specially ordered to do so by a commissioned officer ; that, on 
the day following he left camp with the rest of the deserters ; 
that he had been subsequently elected captain by them, and 
served in that capacity ; and that, a month after, he had re- 
turned voluntarily to his post. The prisoner stated, in his 
defense, that he had served faithfully three months, and con- 
ceived, from the best information he could get, that his term 
of service had expired ; that he was told, by both non-com- 
missioned officers and privates, that it was nothing but right 
to go home, and, as soon as he discovered his error, he had 
returned to his duty. The court found him guilty of deser- 
tion and mutiny, and sentenced him to " receive the punish- 
ment of death by shooting " 

Sergeant David Morrow was then tried. It was charged 
against Morrow, and proved, that he had taken a leading part 
in the mutiny and desertion. He had gone about the camp 
with a paper, collecting the names of those who intended to 
leave on the twentieth, and was prominent among those who 
forcibly took provisions from the public stores. On the nine- 
teenth, he had said, in the hearing of men on duty, that any 
man who intended to go the next day was a fool to work, 
instead of cooking provisions for the march ; in consequence 
of which remark a large number of men abandoned their 
duty, and proceeded to cook. On the twentieth, he went off 
with the rest, "yelling and firing his gun." It was also 
shown that the prisoner, on the eighth of November, had re- 
turned to his duty, bringing with him a 2^c(,'>'don from a gen- 
eral officer, to the following effect : " Whereas, David Mor- 
row, who deserted on the twentieth of September last, has 
come forward and surrendered himself to this camp (Camp 
Stewart), has acknowledged the error of his conduct, professed 
his penitence for the same, and begged permission to join hia 
company and serve out his time of service or duty as a faith- 
ful soldier, he is hereby pardoned, on reporting himself to his 
company of Colonel P. Pipkin's regiment without delay, sub- 
ject to the will of the commanding general." The prisoner 
stated in his defense that he left Fort Jackson in consequence 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 285 

of the advice which he received from his captain, corroborated 
by the opinion of General Johnson, Colonel Chatham, Cap- 
tain Earp, and many others, who said there was no existing 
law, within their knowledge, compelling men to stay ia ser- 
vice longer than three months. He had also been assured by 
Sergeant Cheek that he had once left camp in similar circum- 
stances, and had received no punishment for it. For the rest, 
he threw himself upon the mercy of the court. The court 
had no mercy for him, but, finding him guilty of desertion 
and mutiny, sentenced him to suffer " death by shooting." 

John Harris was the next prisoner tried. As the case of 
this unfortunate man, from the fact of his being a preacher 
and the father of nine children, and from other circumstances 
yet to appear, made more noise in the world than any other, 
I think it proper to give here the whole of the evidence ad- 
duced upon his trial, in the language of the official record. 
He was charged with Mutiny, and with Conniving at Mu- 
tiny. 

Lieutenant Noah Bennett testified : " That he saw the 
prisoner, on the 19th of September, 1814, with a paper con- 
taining a good many names, and the prisoner informed him 
that he only set down such men's names as directed him to 
do so ; that those who were present said it was a list of men's 
names to draw provisions to go home on the 20th ; that the 
prisoner was one of the mutinous party who marched off on 
the morning of the 20th ; that he belonged to the same com- 
pany, and believes the prisoner never reported any of the 
mutinous party, as required by the Kules and Articles of 
War ; that the prisoner was under his immediate command 
on the 19th of September, and that he behaved himself as 
usual, well, until the evening, when he saw him with the pa- 
per described heretofore." 

John H. Hogan, private, had seen the prisoner with the 
paper of names, and saw him march off on the 20th. 

John Husbands, private, testified : " That he saw the 
prisoner, some time previous to the 20th of September, with a 
paper, setting down such men's names as intended going home; 



286 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

that the prisoner did not appear to be using any persuasion, 
and stated it was right some should remain at the fort, and 
that he would soon have a larger party than Captain Kil- 
patrick ; that he believes the prisoner did march off with the 
mutinous party on the morning of the 20th." 

John Johnson, private, heard " the prisoner say, that there 
was no law to compel the men to stay longer than three 
months ; that he was a man of spirit, and would not stay 
longer; that a considerable number of the men would go then, 
and one who would refuse he could see bayoneted about six 
inches ; that they would go to the big or great man, and 
shiver their muskets over his head, but not strike so hard as 
to kill him." 

Edward Stephens, private, saw the prisoner with the pa- 
per of names, and saw him march off on the 20th. 

James Alexander, sergeant major, " saw the prisoner, on 
the 19th, when the provisions were issued ; believes he re- 
ceived his proportionable part, and, on the morning of the 
20th, marched off with the mutinous party; that the prisoner 
told him that he did not suppose the list he had of men's 
names was improper, as it was to be handed to the colonel ; 
that the prisoner gave up his gun to Captain Kilpatrick, and 
thinks he demanded and got a receipt which he had given for 
his gun, or the captain wrote one for that purpose." 

Ensign Daniel Kelly, belonging to the same company as 
the prisoner, stated that Harris generally behaved himself 
well, and was obedient to orders. 

James Smith, private, testified : " That the prisoner ad- 
vised him not to go home with the party on the 20th. 

James Nelson, private, stated ''that he had heard General 
Washington, of Tennessee, say to the members of a court- 
martial that he did not know whether the men were ordered 
out for a tour of three or six months, and that he had written 
to the Governor, but had received no answer to his letter on 
the subject." 

This was the whole of the evidence brought forward on tlie 
trial of John Harris. He stated, in his own defense, that he 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 287 

was totally unacquainted witli tlie nature of military service ; 
that he had frequently heard his officers say that they knew 
of no law compelling militia to remain in service longer than 
three months ; and, from the opinion of other men of respec- 
tability and information, conceived his term of service had ex- 
pired ; that he had returned his gun to his captain under that 
impression ; took up the receipt he had given for it, and de- 
parted from Fort Jackson, conscious of having done his duty. 
The court found the prisoner guilty, and sentenced him to 
" receive the punishment of death by shooting." 

Henry Lewis, David Hunt and Edward Linsey were suc- 
cessively tried, charged with the same offences. The evidence 
in each case was to the same effect as that already given. 
They had all denied the legality of a six months' tour, had 
all received a share of the provisions, had all been prominent 
in advising and promoting the desertion, had all marched 
from camp on the fatal morning, and all returned voluntarily 
to their duty a month after. Lewis said, in his defense, that 
he had been led astray by the opinions of men of better in- 
foi-mation than himself, who positively assured him there was 
no law compelling militia to serve longer than three months ; 
that he was also persuaded off by Sergeant Hooker ; he re- 
gretted such a disgraceful act, and threw himself upon the 
mercy of the court. Hunt, also, averred that he had erred 
through ignorance and false information, was sorry for his 
improper conduct, and solicited mercy. Linsey made the 
same plea, confessed the impropriety of what he had done, 
and implored " the mercy of the court." The court found 
all three guilty, and sentenced them to "death by shootino-." 

The rest of the prisoners, one hundred and ninety-seven 
in number, were tried in batches, one batch consisting of a 
hundred and twenty-five men. All but five pleaded guilty to 
the main charges, and all but one were sentenced to have 
either one half or one third of their pay stopped, and, at the 
end of their term of service, to have one half of their hair 
shaved close off, and to be drummed out of camp. Ten of 
the prisoners, on account of their "youth and inexperi- 



288 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

ince," were recommended to the mercy of the commanding 
genera]. 

The trials appear to have occupied the court twelve days. 
{Supposing it to have adjourned on the 18th of December, 
which is inferred only from the number of recorded adjourn- 
ments, the proceedings may have been dispatched to General 
Jackson at New Orleans by the 20th. They must have reached 
him, in any case, soon after the 1st of January. On the 22d 
of that month, as before stated, he signed his approval of the 
proceedings, and ordered the capital sentences to be executed. 
That the proceedings were examined with care is shown by 
the fact that the General's approval was preceded by a long 
and complete recapitulation of the trials, in which every pris- 
oner's name was mentioned, his offense stated, and the sen- 
tence specified. To this document, which would fill seven or 
eight pages of this work, the following words were appended : 
" The Major General approves the proceedings and sentences 
of the court, and order*>.them to be carried into effect. With 
respect to those sentenced to the punishment of death, their 
sentence will be carried into execution four days after the pro- 
mulgation of this order at Mobile." The ten young men who 
were recommended to mercy were pardoned and ordered to 
return to their duty. 

So much for the trial. It throws no light upon the real 
points at issue between the prisoners and the commanding 
General. Whether those men were bound to serve six months 
was a question neither discussed nor referred to by the mem- 
bers of the court. The published trial contains but a single 
allusion to the subject, and that allusion was made by a wit- 
ness, who said he had heard General Washington, of Tennes- 
see, say that he did not know whether the men were to serve 
three months or six. We rise from a perusal of this trial 
more perplexed and more amazed than when we sat down to 
it. We must go back of the trial, therefore, for light upon 
the real questions involved. 

And first : Were these men called out for six months or 
for three ? Unquestionably for six ! Here is the original 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 289 

order directing the call, addressed by Governor Blount, of 
Tennessee, to General Jackson, dated, Nashville, May 20th, 
1814: 

"Sir: In compliance with the requisition of Major General Thomas 
Pinckney, that the posts of Fort Williams, Fort Strother, Fort Armstrong, 
Fort Ross, and Forts Old and New Deposit, should be kept up, the doing 
of which he has confided to you until the objects of government in relation 
to the war against the hostile Creek Indians shall have been fully effected ; 
and from the probable expiration of the time of service of the troops now 
occupying those important posts, commanded by Colonel Bunch, prior to 
a final accomplishment of the views of government in relation to the 
Creek war, you will, without delay, order out one thousand militia infantry 
of the second division, for the term of SIX MONTHS, unless sooner dis- 
charged by order of the President of the United States, or you may accept 
a tender of service of the above number of volunteer infantry from the 
second division for the aforesaid term, for the purpose of garrisoning the 
said posts, at your option; which latitude, in relation to calls for men to 
act against the Creeks, in furtherance of the views of government in that 
behalf, is given to me by instructions from the War Department. Those 
troops will be commanded by an officer of the rank of colonel, and will be 
required to rendezvous at Fayetteville, on the 20th of June next, thence 
they will proceed to the above mentioned posts, under your order, in such 
number to each as you shall assign," etc., etc. 

General Jackson was then at home resting from his labors 
in crushing the Creeks. He received this letter from Governor 
Blount on the day it was written, and immediately issued the 
following order, or rather invitation, to the militia of his 
division : 

" Brave Tennesseans of the second division : The Creek war, through 
the divine aid of Providence and the valor of those engaged in the campaign 
in which you bore a conspicuous share, has been brought to a happy termi- 
nation. Good policy requires that the territory conquered should be gar- 
risoned and possession retained until appropriated by the government of 
tlie United States. In pursuance of this policy, and to reHeve the troops 
now stationed at forts Williams, Strother, and Armstrong, on the Coosa 
river, as well as Old and New Deposit, I am commanded by his excellency 
Governor Blount to call from my division one thousand men in the service 
of the United States, FOR THE PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS, unless 
sooner discharged by order of the President of the United States. 

VOL. II.— 19 



290 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON [1815. 

"Tlie brigadier genemls, or officers commanding the 4tli, 5tli, 6tb, 7th 
ard 9th brigades of the second division will forthwith furnish from their 
biigades, respectively, by draft or voluntary enlistment^ two hundred men, 
■with two captains, two first, two second, and two third heutenants, and 
two ensigns, well armed and equipped for active service, to be rendezvoused 
at Fayetteville, Lincoln county, in the State of Tennessee, on the 20th of 
June next ; and then be organized into a regiment, at which place the field 
officers and muster-master will be ordered to meet them. 

" Officers commanding the brigades composing the second division of 
Tennessee militia are charged with the prompt and due execution of this 
order." 

The second question is, Did the men hnoio that they were 
called out for six months ? General Jackson's order answers 
the question. That order was a public one, addressed to the 
whole body of Jackson's command, except those who were 
already in the service of the United States. The men who 
responded did so voluntarily, and in consequence of the pub- 
lished call, which expressly mentioned the period of six months 
as the term of the solicited service. 

But the main question is, Was Grovernor Blount author- 
ized by law to call men into service for six months ? Was 
there any fair ground for the " simple notion" that arose in 
the impatient minds of the men at Fort Jackson as to the 
legality of the longer term ? This question, with all the light 
that time, investigation, and discussion have since thrown 
upon it, is one upon which there are still two opinions. 
Without entering into technicalities, I will present the facts 
which bear upon the question. 

Three months was the term established by old custom and 
old law. The mili'tia act of 1795 provided that " no officer, 
non-commissioned officer, or private of the militia shall bo 
compelled to serve more tlian three months after his arrival 
at the place of rendezvous, in any one year." This was the 
law and the practice from 1795 until the war of 1812. Under 
that act, the Indian wars of the early day were conducted. 
For the suppression of an Indian outbreak a tour of three 
months was usually more than sufficient ; and if not, new 
men, as was fair and natural, took the places of those who 



l815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 291 

had done their part. For three months a farmer may be 
absent from his farm without losing the entire product of a 
year, not so if he is six months away. Law, custom, conven- 
ience, necessity, all combined to root it in the western mind 
that three months was the term for the service of militia in 
the field. 

April the 10th, 1812, in anticipation of the war, Congress 
passed an act " to authorize a detachment from the militia of 
the United States" of one hundred thousand men, to serve for 
8IX months. A " detachment /rom," observe. The old law 
was not repealed. The new term of six months applied only 
to the detachment of one hundred thousand, of which each 
State was to contribute its proportion. 

Here was a fertile ground for disputes. As the war went 
on, and draft after draft of militia was made, the question 
continually arose in the ranks, when the service grew irksome: 
were we called out under the old and general law of 1795, or 
under the new and limited law of 1812 ? Perplexed by this 
question. Governor Blount, in January, 1814, when Jackson's 
men came trooping home from the Creek war and asked an 
honorable discharge, wrote to the Secretary of War for a deci- 
sion, whiah he felt himself unable to give. He tells the Secre- 
tary that he has been obliged to call out a new force of 2,500 
men to replace the troops that had left Greneral Jackson in 
the wilderness. " The troops," he says, " heretofore ordered 
out from this State on the Creek expedition, having performed 
a three months' tour, and thereby having, in their opinion, 
done their duty (and there being here no instructions to the 
contrary), having mostly returned to their homes, is a reason 
why my order (for the calling out of new troops) was given." 
. . . . " The tour of duty mentioned is most congenial to 
the feelings and expectations of militia ; hence, the better to 
promote the good of the service, that term was mentioned" 

in the order calling for the new force " The idea 

of a longer term to militia, who, I believe, are all alive to a 
sense of duty, and anxious for a vigorous and eifectual pro- 
secution of the campaign to a final accomplishment of the 



292 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

objects of government, is disgusting, and, if required of them 
to perform a longer tour, their disappointment might lead to 
greater evils, which it is very desirable to avoid. I entertain 
a hope that those troops which have been in service, and the 
few that now remain in service, will be, by order of the Presi- 
dent, honorably discharged and compensated for their serv- 
ices." 

The reply of the Secretary of War was explicit and satis- 
factory : " The President is pleased to authorize your excel- 
lency to discharge from the service of the United States the 
militia alluded to." And again : " The militia may be con- 
sidered as having been called out under the law of 1795, 
which limits the service to three months. The President is 
the more disposed to make this decision, as the State law pro- 
vides that a period of three months shall be deemed a tour of 
duty, and as the spirit and patriotism of Tennessee leaves no 
doubt that a succession of corps, competent to the objects of 
government, will be regularly furnished." 

But this conflict of laws demanded a remedy, which was 
applied by a new act of Congress, in April, 1814 ; an act sup- 
plementary to the act of 1795. The new act provided that 
" the militia, when called into the sei-vice of the United States, 
by virtue of the before-recited act (of 1795), MAY, if in the 
opinion of the President of the United States the public in- 
terest require it, be compelled to serve for a term not exceed- 
ing six months." The old law was not repealed. The new 
act lengthened the term of service only in a definite and 
specified case. Three months was still the established term, 
which could be doubled only by a special act of presidential 
authority. 

Under the act of April, 1814, the six militia men were 
executed. The question of the legality of their execution, 
then, resolves into this : Had the President authorized Gov- 
ernor Blount to apply to the corps of wliich those unfortu- 
nate men were members the enlargement of the act of 1795 ? 
Had the President expressed the " opinion," in legal form, 
that the public interest required them to serve six months ? 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 293 

If he had, the execution was lawful. If he had not, the exe- 
cution was a hideous mistake. 

I assert, unhesitatingly, that in all the mass of documents 
and dispatches relating to this matter, there is not one, nor a 
sentence of one, which so much as justifies an inference that 
Grovernor Blount received in any form the requisite author- 
ization. 

When this affair was before Congress in 1828, the com- 
mittee to whom it was referred, a partizan committee, founded 
their justification of the execution chiefly upon the following 
passage of a letter from the Secretary of War to Governor 
Blount, dated January 11th, 1814, three months before the 
passage of the new law : " You are authorized to supply, by 
militia drafts, or by volunteers, any deficiency which may arise 
in the militia division under the command of General Jackson, 
and without referring on this head to this department. It 
may be well that your excellency should consult General 
Pinckney on such occasions, as he can best judge of the 
whole number necessary to the attainment of the public 
objects." 

" On this head," says the Secretary. What head ? The 
next sentence informs us. It was the " number" of troops 
necessary, not the length of the term of service. That had 
just been settled to be three months. The new law was passed 
in April, and after its passage there was no communication 
founded upon it from the President to the Governor, The 
Governor took the longer term for granted, so did the mem- 
bers of the court-martial, so did not the unhappy men who 
left Fort Jackson on the 20th of September. 

In view of these facts, the conclusion seems irresistible, 
that the men were correct in their " simple notion," and that 
their departure from camp was not desertion, but a lawful 
going home after they had done their part as citizen soldiers. 
If this is an e^Toneous conclusion, the means exist in every 
collection of public documents for the year 1828 of refuting 
it. I should hail its refutation with pleasure, because I am 
sure that General Jackson acted in this affair from an honest 



294 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

and perfect conviction of the lawfulness and necessity of what 
he did. 

The truth is, the vital point at issue never crossed his 
mind. He did not go far enough back to reach it. The Gov- 
ernor's order and his own, in obedience to which the men has- 
tened to the rendezvous on the 20th of June, both mentioned 
six mouths as the term of service. The Governor's right to 
require that period he never even thought of questioning. 
How could he question it, when the Governor's original order 
contained an assurance that the government had, by express 
instructions from the Department of War, given him '■^lati- 
tude" with regard to the calling out of men for service against 
the Creeks ? Jackson's inference, that the latitude related to 
the length of the term, as well as to the number of men, was 
the more inevitable, as he had been all along contending for 
the longer term, and it was partly in consequence of his own 
disputes with his army that the longer term was included 
in the new act. General Jackson, probably, never performed 
a public act which he more clearly felt to be right, lawful, and 
necessary, than his sanctioning the proceedings of that won- 
derful court-martial. 

But some of the mutinous acts were performed on the 19th 
of September, when the term of three months had not expired. 
One of the men had refused to stand sentinel on the afternoon 
of that day. Sergeant Morrow told the men they were fools 
to be at work, and so induced several to leave their duty. There 
was also a forcible taking of flour from the public stores, and 
a riotous killing of cattle in the public pens. If, however, it 
was lawful for the men to go home, they had a legal right to 
provisions sufficient for the march through a wilderness which 
furnished none. The mode by which they supplied themselves 
was, it is true, irregular and riotous. But whether such acts, 
committed in such circumstances, under the influence of such 
feelings, justified the slaying of six virtuous and well-inten- 
tioned American citizens, is a question which the reader may 
decide. Granting the execution lawful, was it necessary to 
eacrifice six men ? In the strictest disciplined armies of Eu- 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 2i).') 

rope, it is usual, when a imiuLer of soldiers are capitally con- 
victed, to select one or two of the most guilty to expiate the 
offense by death, reserving the rest for punishment less severe. 
For example's sake, the execution of one or two is more effec- 
tual than the wholesale slaughtering of many. Two of these 
militia men were certainly guilty of mutiny on the 19th of Sep- 
tember, Sergeant Morrow and James Webb. Could not their 
blood have atoned, if blood must have been shed ? 

The best justification of the conduct of General Jackson 
in this horrible business is to be found in the circumstances 
of the man at the time. He knew enough of the character of 
militia to know that the victorious host under his command^ 
as soon as the rejoicings at the victory were over, would so 
burn with impatience to go home and recount their exploits to 
admiring friends that it would task his powers to the utter- 
most to keep together a competent army. At Mobile, two 
months before, he had formed the determination to carry out 
the sentences of the court-martial, whatever they might be. 
He had had enough of mutiny. It was no time, he thought, 
when, at length, the proceedings of the court reached him, to 
show mercy. A great hostile armament still threatened the 
coasts which he was commissioned to defend. Another month 
and he might again be grappling with the foe. If the war had 
lasted another year, and he had been compelled to march his 
main body round to Mobile and engage in a long and arduous 
strife with a powerful British army, the contest continuing 
through the heat and pestilence of summer, then the stern 
and terrible example of the execution might have been that 
which alone could nerve his arm to strike an effectual blow. 
To do justice to General Jackson we must survey his situa- 
tion as it appeared to his own eyes at the moment. Those 
■who do that may still deplore and condemn the error, but 
they will call it by no harsher name. 

A successful general must have that in him which will 
enable him to do terrible things. That General Jackson 
could deliberately consign six men to death is a fact which, 
in itself, is not dishonorable to him, but the contraiy. Gen- 



/ 



296 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815 

eral Washington was of kind and gentle blood, but he could 
hang a spy whom he esteemed, and could address to his own 
troops such words as these : — " It is a noble cause we are en- 
gaged in — 'the cause of virtue and mankind ; every temporal 
advantage and comfort to us and our posterity depends upon 
the vigor of our exertions ; in short, freedom or slavery must 
be the result of our conduct ; there can therefore be no greater 
inducement for men to behave well. But it may not be amiss 
for the troops to know that if any man in action shall pre- 
sume to skulk, hide himself, or retreat from the enemy with- 
out the orders of his commanding officers, he will he instantly 
shot doion, as an example of cowardice." 

It is a proof of the general intoxication of the people in 
1815 that the execution of the six militiamen made no im- 
pression Avhatever upon the public mind, if it was even heard 
of I find no allusion to the affair in the New York or Wash- 
ington papers of that year. At a later day, however, their 
blood cried aloud from the ground against General Jackson, 
but cried in vain. What General Jackson felt and thought 
of the matter Avhen years of peace had given him opportunity 
for inquiry and reflection is well known. In the year 1827, 
when he was irritated by the outcry made uj^on the subject 
by the party presses, he wrote two letters, justifying his con- 
duct to the uttermost, and giving evidence that he had as 
bad a memory as ever man was troubled with. The follow- 
ing is his version of the case of poor Hams : 

" Truth is mighty, and shall prevail. Intrigue and management, inca- 
pable of blindfolding the virtuous yeomanry of ray country, will fail of 
their ends ; nor can they impose any other task on me than that of defend- 
ing myself against their imputations, whenever the authors choose to un- 
;nask themselves — a task which I am always ready to perform. 

" The cause that you allude to might as well be ascribed to the Presi- 
denl of the United States, as commander-in-chief of the land and naval 
forces, as to me ; but as you ask for a statement of facts, I send them in 
concise form. 

" In the year 1814, Colonel Pipkin, at the head of his drafted militia^ 
was charged with the defence of Fort Jackson, in the heart of the Creek 
nation, and within my military districts Whilst thus in command, part if 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 297 

his regiment mutinitid. At tie heatl of tliis mutiny was a Mr. Harris, a 
preacher, and, as my memory now serves me, of the Baptist profession. 
He broke open the commissary store, knoclced out the heads of the flour 
barrels, taking what he wanted, and destroying what he pleased — pro- 
ceeded then to the bake-house, and set it on fire, and marched off in open 
defiance of the Colonel, leaving the garrison without provisions, and so 
weakened by desertion that it might have fallen a sacrifice to the Indians. 
I was then at Mobile. Informed of this mutiny and outrage by express, I 
ordered the mutineers and deserters to be pursued, apprehended, and 
brought back for trial. The ringleaders, Harris at their head, after some 
time, were apprehended and brought to Mobile in irons, after I had left 
there for New Orleans, and had charged General Winchester with the 
command of that section of the country. They were tried by court-mar- 
tial, and condemned to die — five were shot, and the balance pardoned. 
The others who had deserted, before they reached home, returned before 
Harris and his party were arrested, joined me and were forgiven — were 
with me Avhen I marched to Pensacola in 1814; followed me thence to 
New Orleans, Avhen they regained their former good character by their 
valorous and soldierly conduct, and were honorably discharged. These 
proceedings are on file in the department of war, Avhere those who wish 
for truth can be informed by applying to the record. 

" It is for the public to judge whether this professed ambassador of 
Christ did not well deserve death for the crimes of robbery and arson, and 
this outrageous mutiny, which jeopardized not only the remainder of the 
garrison, from its exposed situation, but the safety of our country — and 
whether this wolf in sheep's clothing was not a fit subject of example. 
Harris, when condemned to die, acknowledged the justice of his condem- 
nation, and stated that he had no liope of pardon here, but that he had of 
forgiveness hereafter — which I trust he obtained, through the mediation 
of our blessed Saviour, and a sincere repentance of his crimes that brought 
on him his condemnation. 

"Let it be recollected that this mutiny occurred at a period when 
every nerve of our countiy was strained to protect it from the invasion of 
an overwhelming British force, whose agents were then engaged in stir- 
ring up the Creeks to the indiscriminate murder of our defenseless border 
citizens. These are the facts of the case, for your information." 

Another letter of Jackson's, on tlie same subject, con- 
tained the following, by way of postscript : "It will be re- 
collected in the Kevolutionary war, at a time of great trial, 
General AVashington ordered deserters to be shot without 
trial. Captain Reed, under this order, having arrested three, 



298 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

had one shot without trial, and liis head brought to the gen- 
eral, but he (General Washington) reprimanded Reed for not 
shooting the whole threi;. General Green, near Rudgly's 
Mill, so says Gordon's history, had eight men hung on one 
pole for desertion. Johnson's Life of Green says five, without 
court-martial. I only a]3proved of the proceedings of a court 
.composed of men who were the friends and neighbors of those 
to be tried by them." 

To Jackson's tissue of misstatements with regard to 
Harris, a son of that unfortunate man wrote an indignant 
reply, giving a version of the affair which accorded with the 
evidence produced before the court-martial. He denied the 
burning of the bakehouse, which, he says, was thrown into 
the river four or five weeks before the men left Fort Jackson. 
The following is the material part of the younger Harris' nar- 
rative : 

" Late ia the year 1813 my brother James enrolled himself; he was then 
sixteen years old, and shortly after our house was burnt, and we moved on 
the Indian land, about eight miles from where we lived, to a saltpetre cave, 
where my father had a furnace lo make petre. Not long afterwards James 
was drafted into his old company. Father, thinking him too young to go 
without protection, took the place of Samuel Sherrel, and went with him. 

" After they had served three months, my father, believing their time 
was out, and getting no satisfaction from his officers, came home, ' not in 
open defiance of the Golonelj hut after giving up his gun, and lifting his receipt. 

" Soon after he got home, he learnt that General Jackson had ordered 
them back by express. He stayed at home three or four days, and started 
hack of his own accord. Many of his neighbors tried to prevail on him to 
keep out of the way, and every means was offered him to have done so, 
till the heat of passion had subsided ; but he refused, and frequently said 
that he was conscious that for what they had done they could not be hurt, 
and that he feared nothing even before the most prejudiced court-martia'.j 
except one thing — that was a paper on which he had taken down the 
names of those that were going home, though he had no fears from that if 
they would give him justice. 

" Colonel Pipkin had told some of the men if they would go home 
whether or not, and would give him their names, he would make provision 
for them to draw rations. If I had any confidence in the Colonel's oath, 1 
would ask him if he ever made any such statement or not. This is the 
paper above alluded to. 



1815.] EXECUTION OF SIX MILITIAMEN. 299 

'' When my father started to trial, I went with him ten or twelve miles. 
We passed the house of one Salmon, who said he had come back for the 
men. My father stopped and told him he was going back, and Salmon 
told my father if he would wait a day or two at Winchester, which was 
about fourteen miles from there, they would go together. My father waited 
a day. Some of his friends persuaded him to enlist ; but he refused to do 
it, because he thought himself in no danger. They then went on to Fort 
Jackson, when they gave up to Colonel Hart. I have lately been told that 
Salmon gave him up as a prisoner, which I do not believe ; but I will be 
able to state explicitly before long. Colonel Hart was on parade and about 
to march for Mobile when they arrived. They went with Hart, who, to 
add to the fatigue of my father, I am told, had him handcuffed. In two or 
three days, as I understand, they were taken off. After they got to Mobile 
and had their trial, and they knew the decree of the court-martial, my 
father was advised to write to General Jackson liimself, as he was ac- 
quainted with the General, and to state the circumstances under which he 
was tried and the situation he left home, and pray him for a pardon or at 
least a new hearing. After he wrote his first letter to General Jackson, 
his friends wrote another, petitioning for a reprieve. 

" General Jackson, in the most unrelenting manner, charges my father 
' of robbery and arsun.' I have previously disproved this savage charge. 
He audaciously asks, ' whether this wolf in sheep's clothing was not a fit 
subject of example.' I did hope that a liberal and generous feeling, on the 
part of general Jackson, would show the character of my deceased father, 
at least as far as those assaults which slander and falsehood delight to in- 
flict. In that I have been egregiously disappointed. My father was an 
honest man, and a kind and protecting father, which can be proved by 
many of Jackson's friends. And I boldly say, if he had justice, he would 
be ^afit subject of example.'' " 

" Jackson has the effrontery to state in the face of the world, that 
'Harris, when condemned to die, acknowledged the justice of his condem- 
nation, and stated he had no hope here, but he had of forgiveness here- 
after.' And in his letter to Mr. Owens, of Kentucky, that ' this man (Harris) 
never wrote but one letter to me that I ever saw or heard of before this 
publication, and in that he acknowledges himself guilty of the enormous 
crime* charged against him, and stated his willingness to meet the just 
sentence o'^ the court.' It is inhuman to suppose this to be true ; and if so, 
why does he suppress the letter ? My brother James was with him all the 
time, and of course knew the secrets of his breast, and he heard of no such 
acknowledgments, nor saw any such letter. 

" Eead the words of my father, in a farewell letter to my mother : 
* Dear wife, I take this opportunity of writing to you for the last time. 
/ did not expect to have this awful news to write to 



300 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

you; but my sentence is come ; to-morrow by twelve o'clock, which is an 
awful thing to think of.' 

" After I saw the statements of Jackson, I wrote to him, requesting 
him to give me his reasons for making them, and to send me the contents 
of the letters addressed to him by my father. As yet I have received no 
answer or satisfaction. This seems to be a 'task' that he is not 'always 
ready to perform.' 

" I am a citizen of Lawrence county, Alabama. If any one wishes to 
scrutinize what I have said, he can call and he shall have satisfaction." 

Fathers and kindred of others of the Six came forward 
with similar statements, many of them very artless and affect- 
ing. The truth was gradually elicited in all its horrible com- 
pleteness ; but as that truth was known to have been sought 
out and used for a party purpose only, it failed to produce 
much effect upon the public mind. In the popular lives of 
Jackson, whether written before or since his death, there is 
usually no allusion to the execution of these men. Eaton 
mentions it not, and Eaton has been the one source of pop- 
ular information respecting Jackson since the year 1818. 

Every fact that could aid the reader in forming a correct 
judgment of this affair has now been given, and given with 
the single object of enabling him to form such a judgment. 



CHAPTEK XXIII. 

THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 

" I BELIEVE," wrote General Jackson to the Secretary of 
War, on the day after the flight of the English army, " you 
will not think me too sanguine in Ithe belief that Louisiana is 
now clear of its enemy. I hope, however, I need not assure 
you that wherever I command such a belief shall never occa- 
sion any relaxation in the measures for resistance. I am but 
too sensible that the moment when the enemy is opposing U8 
is not the most proper to provide for them." ' 



1815.] THE AKRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 30l 

• Harmless words, one would think. A wise resolution, 
every one will admit. Yet it was the carrying out of thia 
resolution that plunged General Jackson into the " sea of 
troubles," to which allusion has before been made. For the 
first three weeks, however, after the triumphal return of the 
army to New Orleans, little occurred to disturb the public 
harmony. Martial law was rigorously maintained, and all 
the troops were kept in service. The duty at the lines and 
below the lines was hard and disagreeable, but, whatever mur- 
murs were uttered by the troops, the duty was punctually per- 
formed. The mortality at the hospitals continued to be very 
great. The business of the city was interrupted, in some degree, 
by the prevalence of martial law, and still more by the reten- 
tion in service of business men. But so long as there was no 
Avhispcr of peace in the city, the restraint was felt to be neces- 
sary, and was submitted to without audible complaining. 
During this interval some pleasant things occurred, which ex- 
hibit the General in a favorable light. 

January the 27th, General Jackson addressed a feeling 
letter to Nicholas Girod, the mayor of the city, compliment- 
ing him highly upon the zeal and devotion to the public good 
which had been displayed by him and by the citizens during 
the siege. " I anticipate," said the General, " with great 
satisfaction the period when the final departure of the enemy 
will enable you to resume the ordinary functions of your office 
and restore the citizens to their usual occuj)ations — they have 
merited the blessings of peace by bravely facing the dangera 
of war. I should be ungrateful or insensible if I did not ac- 
knowledge the marks of confidence and affectionate attach- 
ment with which I have personally been honored by your citi- 
zens ; a confidence that has enabled me with greater succesa 
to direct the measures for their defense, an attachment which 
I sincerely reciprocate, and which I shall carry with me to 
the grave." 

February the 4th, Edward Livingston, Mr. Shepherd, 
and Captain Maunsel White were sent to the British fleet to 
arrange for a further exchange of prisoners, and for the re- 



302 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

covery of a large number of slaves, who, after aiding the Eii- 
glish army on shore, had gone off with them to their ships. 
They were charged also with a less difficult errand. General 
Keane, when he received his wounds on the 8th of January, 
lost on the field a valuable sword, the gift of a friend. He 
stated the circumstance to General Jackson, and requested 
liitn to restore the sword. It was an unusual request, thought 
the General, but he complied with it, adding polite wishes for 
General Kcane's recovery. General Keane acknowledged the 
restoration of the sword in courteous terms. In communicat- 
ing the event to the Secretary of War, Jackson gave his Brit- 
ish adversary a mild reproof : " Major General Keane, having 
lost his sword in the action of the 8th of January, and having 
expressed a great desire to regain it, valuing it as the present 
of an esteemed friend, I thought proper to have it restored to 
him, thinking it more honorable to the American character to 
return it, after the expression of those wishes, than to retain 
it as a trophy of victory. I believe, however, it is a singular 
instance of a British general soliciting the restoration of his 
sword fairly lost in battle." 

Much polite correspondence ensued between Jackson and 
the British general relative to the prisoners and the slaves. 
Every thing with regard to the exchange of prisoners was ar- 
ranged easily enough, but the slaves caused some difficulty. 
General Lambert would not compel their return, though he 
placed no obstacles in the way of such as could be persuaded 
back to their masters. Some of them did return, but the 
greater part sailed away with the fleet. One passage from the 
correspondence between General Jackson and General Lam- 
bert is too creditable to the American General to be omitted 
here. " Some of my officers," wrote Jackson, " under a mis- 
taken idea that deserters were confined with the prisoners, 
have, as I have understood, made improj^er applications to 
gome of the latter to quit your service. It is possible they 
may have in some instances succeeded in procuring either a 
feigned or a real consent to this effect ; the whole of the trans- 
actioUj however, met my marked reprehension, and all tlip 



1815.] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS, 303 

prisoners are now restored to you. But as improper allure- 
ments may have been held out to these men, it will be highly 
gratifying to my feelings to learn that no investigation will 
be made, or punishment inflicted, in consequence of the con- 
duct of those who may, under such circumstances, have 
swerved from their duty." General Lambert assured Jack- 
son, in his reply, that no investigation should be made into 
the conduct of the returning troops, and applauded the hu- 
manity of the request. 

Meanwhile Edward Livingston and his friends, who M^ere 
expected to return to New Orleans in a few days, did not pre- 
sent themselves. Two weeks elapsed and still they came not. 
Mr. Livingston's family became somewhat alarmed. Connected 
with this delay a little anecdote has been related to me by the 
same kind informant, the inmate of Mr. Livingston's house, 
whose recollections have brightened previous pages of this 
work. To understand the story it is necessary for the reader 
to recall to his recollection a certain Major Mitchell, who was 
captured, so much to his astonishment and disgust, on the 
night of the 23d of December. Major Mitchell, being the 
higliest in rank among the English prisoners, was popularly 
regarded as a kind of hostage, whose presence assured kind 
treatment to the American prisoners in the British fleet. 
Fearful would be the fate of Major Mitchell, thought the 
multitude, if the American prisoners came to any harm. 
The General calling one day upon Mrs. Livingston, as was 
often his custom, found her in some concern for the safety 
of her absent husband. Her little daughter, too, began to 
whimper : 

" When are you going to bring me back my father, Gen- 
eral ? The British will kill my father, and I shall never se6 
my father any more," said the child, sobbing. 

The mighty man of war stooped down, and, j>atting the 
little girl upon the head, consoled her thus : 

" Don't cry, my child. If the British touch so much as a 
hair of your father's head, I'll hang Mitchell I" 

This was enough for the logic of childliood. The little 



304 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

girl dried her tears, and had no more fears for her father's 
safety. 

The three Americans, it chanced, reached the fleet just as 
tt^^ngUsh general was about to invest Fort Bowyer, and they 
were^onsequently detained until the success of that opera- 
tion was secured. They were treated with all cordiality by 
the British officers, and passed their time very agreeably. 
Assailed by an overwhelming force, both by sea and land, 
Major Lawrence had no choice but to capitulate, but the 
capitulation was shorn of every circumstance of dishonor. 
" Major Lawrence marched the garrison out of Fort Bowyer 
with all the honors of war. The capitulation was so arranged 
as to enable some of the naval commanders to get up a drama 
which might add to the importance of the achievement. A 
great dinner was given on the occasion on board the Tonnant, 
at which Admiral Codrington took the head of the table and 
the Americans were seated on his right. After a sumptuous 
repast, and as the dessert and wines were brought on the 
table, the curtains of the cabin were drawn aside, and a full 
view of Fort Bowyer presented to the company at the very 
moment when the American flag descended the staff, and that 
of Great Britain ascending, under a salute of artillery, waved 
in its place. 

" 'Well, Colonel Livingston, you perceive,' remarked Ad- 
miral Codrington, ' that our day has commenced,' pointing 
to the British flag. 

" ' Your good health,' replied Mr. Livingston, touching 
glasses with the exultant Briton. ' We do not begrudge you 
that small consolation.' 

'' Small it proved, indeed, as the opening fortunes of the 
British were suddenly closed by an event which occurred on 
the 13th, just two days after the surrender of Fort Bowyer. 
On that day Mr. E. D. Shepherd was standing on the deck of 
the Tonnant conversing with Admiral Malcolm, a gentleman 
of the most amiable add genial manners, when a gig approached 
with an officer, who coming aboard the Tonnant presented to 
the admiral a package. On opening and reading the contents, 



1815.] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 305 

Admiral Malcolm took oflf his cap and gave a loud hurrah. 
Then tTirning to Mr, Shepherd, he seized his hand and grasp- 
ing it warmly, exclaimed, ' Good news ! good news ! We are 
friends. The Brazen has just arrived outside with the dwvs 
of peace. I am delighted!' adding, in an under tone,^I 
have hated this war from the beginning.' "* 

Edward Livingston returned to New Orleans with the 
news of peace on the nineteenth of February. The city was 
thrown into joyful excitement, and the troops expected an 
immediate release from their arduous toils. But they were 
doomed to disappointment. The package which Admiral 
Malcolm had received contained only a newspaper announce- 
ment of peace. There was little doubt of its truth, but the 
statements of a newspaper are as nothing to the commanders 
of fleets and armies. To check the rising tide of feeling, 
Jackson, on the very day of Livingston's return, issued a 
proclamation, stating the exact nature of the intelligence, and 
exhorting the troops to bear with patience the toils of the 
campaign a little longer. " We must not," said he, " be 
thrown into false security by hopes that may be delusive. It 
is by holding out such that an artful and insidious enemy too 
often seeks to accomplish what the utmost exertions of his 
strength will not enable him to effect. To place you off your 
guard and attack you by surprise is the natural expedient 
of one who, having experienced the superiority of your arms, 
still hopes to overcome you by stratagem. Though young in 
the ' trade' of war, it is not by such artifices that he will de- 
ceive us." 

This proclamation seems rather to have inflamed than al- 
layed the general discontent. The conduct of the Legislature, 
too, about this time, tended to weaken the General's author- 
ity. Unable to forget or forgive their exclusion from their 
chamber for a day by armed men, they now avenged the in- 
dignity by voting thanks to all the leading officers of the 
army, except the General-in-chief. General Thomas, General 



* Jackson and New Orleans, p. 394. 
VOL. II 20 



306 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

Adair, General Carroll, General Coffee, and Colonel Hinds, 
all received, through Governor Claiborne, a handsome expres- 
sion of legislative gratitude, and all transmitted a suitable 
acknowledgment. In this correspondence there is but one 
allusion to General Jackson, which occurs in the reply of 
General Coffee to Governor Claiborne. Coffee's letter was 
eminently civil, but he contrived to impart to an ignoring 
Legislature his opinion of the merits of the General in com- 
mand. " While we indulge," said General Coffee, "the pleas- 
ing emotions that are thus produced, we should be guilty of 
great injustice, as well to merit as to our own feelings, if we 
withheld from the commander-in-chief, to whose wisdom and 
exertions we are so much indebted for our successes, the ex- 
pression of our highest admiration and applause. To his 
firmness, his skill, his gallantry — to that confidence and 
unanimity among all ranks produced by those qualities, we 
must chiefly ascribe the splendid victories in which we esteem 
it a happiness and an honor to have borne a part." 

This action of the Legislature did not tend to conciliate 
either of the opposing forces. It passed, however, without 
comment from the General. But an event, extremely tri- 
fling in itself, soon precipitated the inevitable collision. 

Two days after the return of Livingston, a paragraph ap- 
peared in the Louisiana Gazette, to the effect, that " a flag 
had just arrived from Admiral Cochrane to General Jackson, 
officially announcing the conclusion of peace at Ghent be- 
tween the United StcHes and Great Britain, and virtually 
requesting a suspension of arms." 

For this statement there was not the least foundation in 
truth, and its effect at such a crisis was to inflame the pre- 
vailing excitement. Upon leading the paragraph Jackson 
caused to be prepared an official contradiction, which he sent 
by an aid-de-camp to the oflending editor, with a written 
order requiring its insertion in the next issue of the paper. 
Tliis contradiction, a very famous document in its day, long 
Btigmatized as an audacious attempt to " muzzle" the press, 
was in the words foUowino; : — 



1815] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 307 

" Sir : The commanding General having seen a publication wliich issued 
from your press to day, stating that 'a flag had just arrived," etc., etc., 
requires that you will hasten to remove any improper impression which 
so unauthorized and incorrect a statement may have made. 

" No request, either direct or virtual, has been made to him by the com- 
mander of either the land or naval forces of Great Britain for a suspension 
of arms. The letter of ' Bathurst to the Lord Mayor,' which furnishes the 
only official information that has been communicated, will not allow the 
supposition that a suspension of hostilities is meant or expected, until tlie 
treaty signed by the respective commissioners shall have received the riti- 
fication of the Prince Regent and of the President of the United States. 

" The Commanding General again calls upon his fellow-citizens and 
soldiers to recollect that it is yet uncertain whether the articles which have 
been signed at Ghent for the reestabUshment of peace will be approved 
by those whose approbation is necessary to give efficiency to them. Until 
that approbation is given and properly announced, he would be wanting to 
the important interests whicli have been confided to his protection, if he 
permitted any relaxation in the army under his command. How disgrace- 
ful, as well as disastrous, would it be, if, by suri'ehdering ourselves credu- 
lously and weakly to newspaper publications — oflen proceeding from 
ignorance, but more frequently from dishonest designs — we permitted an 
enemy, whom we have so lately and so gloriously beaten, to regain the 
advantages he has lost, and triumph over us in turn. 

"The General Order issued on the 19th expresses the feelings, the 
views, and the hopes which the commanding General still entertains. 

" Henceforward, it is expected that no publication of the nature of that 
herein alluded to and censured will appear in any paper of the city, unless 
the editor shall have previously ascertained its correctness, and gained per 
mission for its insertion from the proper source." 

This was regarded by the rebellious spirits as a new pro- 
vocation. The " muzzled" editor, in the same number of his 
paper, relieved his mind by the following comments upon the 
General's order : " On Tuesdd^y we published a small hand- 
bill, containing such information as we had conceived correct, 
respecting the signing of preliminaries of peace between the 
American and British commissioners at Ghent, We have 
since been informed from Headquarters that the information 
therein contained is incorrect, and we have been ordered to 
publish the following, to do away the evil that might arise 
trom our imprudence. Every man may read for himself, and 



308 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

think fur himself, (thank God ! our thoughts are as yet un- 
shackled !) hut as we have heen officially informed that New 
Orleans is a camp, our readers must not ex|)ect us to take the 
liberty of expressing our opinion as we might in a free city. 
We can not submit to have a censor of the press in our office, 
and as we are ordered not to publish any remarks without 
authority, we shall submit to be silent until we can speak 
with safety — except making our paper a sheet of shreds and 
patches — a mere advertiser for our mercantile friends." 

Pretty loud growling this to come from a muzzled editor. 
In this posture of affiirs, some of the French troops hit upon 
an expedient to escape the domination of the General. They 
claimed the protection of the French consul, M. Toussard: the 
consul, nothing loath, hoisted the French flag over the consul- 
ate, and dispensed certificates of French citizenship to all ap- 
plicants. Naturalized Frenchmen availed themselves of the 
same artifice, and, for a few days, Toussard had his hands full 
of pleasant and profitable occupation. Jackson met this new 
difficulty by ordering the consul and all Frenchmen, who were 
not citizens of the United States, to leave New Orleans within 
three days, and not to return to within one hundred and 
twenty miles of the city, until the news of the ratification 
of the treaty of peace was officially published ! The register 
of votes of the last election was resorted to for the purpose of 
ascertaining who were citizens, and who were not. Every 
man who had voted was claimed by the General as his " fel- 
low-citizen and soldier," and compelled to do duty as such. 

This bold stroke of authority aroused much indignation 
among the anti-martial law party, which, on the 3d of March, 
found voice in the public press. The article referred to was 
the direct cause of the celebrated " arrests." It is alluded to 
in every work relating to these events, but is published in 
none of them. As it will conduce to the perfect understand- 
ing of the affair to have the article printed here at length, 
space shall be spared for a translation. It was published in 
the French language, and was signed, " A Citizen of Louis- 
iana of French Origin." 



1815.] THE AERESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 309 

•' Mr, Editor : — To remain silent on the last general orders, directing all 
the Frenchmen who now reside in New Orleans to leave it within three 
days, and to keep at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, would 
be an act of cowardice which ought not to be expected from a citizen of a 
free country ; and when every one laments such an abuse of authority, the 
press ought to denounce it to the people. 

" In order to encourage a communication between both countries, the 
7th and 8th articles of the treaty of cession secure to the French who come 
to Louisiana certain commercial advantages, which they are to enjoy dur- 
ing a term of twelve years, which are not yet expired. At the expiration 
of that term they shall be treated in the same manner as the most favored 
nation. A peace, which nothing is likely to disturb, uniting both nations, 
the French have, until this moment, been treated in the United States with 
that regard which a great people deserves and requhes, even in its reverses, 
and with that good will which so eminently distinguishes the American 
government in its relations with foreign nations. In such circumstances, 
what can be the motives which have induced the commander-in-chief of 
the seventh military district to issue general orders of so vexatious a nature? 
When the foreigners of every nation, when the Spaniai'ds, and even the 
English, are suffered to remain unmolested among us, shall the French 
alone be condemned to ostracism, because they rendered such great ser- 
vices? Had they remained passive spectators of the late events — could 
their sentiments towards us be doubted, — then we might merely be sur- 
prised at the course now pursued with regard to them. But how are we 
to restrain our indignation, when we remember that these very French- 
men who are now to be exiled have so powerfully contributed to the 
preservation of Louisiana — without speaking of the corps who so emi- 
nently distinguished themselves, in which we see a number of Frenchmen 
either as officers or privates ? How can we forget that they were French 
artillerists who directed and served some of those cannon Avhich so greatly 
annoyed the British forces ? Can any one flatter himself that such impor- 
tant services are so soon forgotten ? No ; they are engraved in everlast- 
ing characters on the hearts of all the inhabitants of Louisiana, and they 
will play a brilliant part in the history of our country. And Avhen those 
brave men ask no other reward but to be permitted peaceably to enjoy 
among us the rights secured to them by treaties and the laws of America- 
far from sharing in the sentiments which have dictated the general order, 
we avail ourselves of this opportunity to give them a pubhc testimony of 
our gratitude. 

" Far from us the idea that there can be a single Frenchman so pusil- 
lanimous as to forsake his country, merely to please the military com- 
mander of this district, and in order to avoid the proscription to which he 
has chosen to condemn them I We may, therefore, expect to see them 



310 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815 

repair to the consul of their nation, there to renew the act which binds 
them to their country. But, supposing that, yielding to a sentiment of 
fear, they consent to cease to be French citizens, would they, by such ac 
abjuration, become American citizens? No, certainly they would not. 
The man who might be powerful enough to denationalize them would not 
be powerful enough to give them a country. It is better, therefore, for a 
man to remain a faithful Frenchman than to suffer himself to be scared 
even by ttartial law ; a law useless when the presence of the foe and honor 
call us to arms, but which becomes degrading when their shameful flight 
permits us to enjoy a glorious rest, which terror ought not to disturb. 

" Is it possible that the Constitution and the laws of our country have 
left it in the power of the several commanders of military districts to dis- 
solve all at once the ties which unite America to the nations of Europe ? 
Is it possible that peace or war depend upon their caprice and the friend- 
ship or enmity they might entertain for any nation ? We do not hesitate 
to declare that nothing of the kind exists. The President alone has, by 
law, the right to adopt against alien enemies such measures as the state of 
war may render necessary ; and, for that purpose, he must issue a procla- 
mation. But this is a power which he cannot delegate. It is by virtue 
of that law, and of a proclamation, that the subjects of Great Britain were 
removed from our ports and sea-shores. But we do not know any law 
authorizing General Jackson to apply to alien friends a measure which the 
President of the United States himself has only the right to adopt against 
alien enemies. 

" Our laws protect strangers who come to settle or reside among us. 
To the sovereign alone belongs the right of depriving them of that protec- 
tion; and all those who know how to appreciate the title of an American 
citizen, and who are acquainted with their prerogatives, will easily under- 
stand that by the sovereign I do by no means intend to designate a major 
general, or any other military commander; to whom I willingly grant the 
power of issuing general orders like the one in question, but to whom I 
deny that of having them executed. 

" If the last general order has no object but to inspire in us a salutary 
fear, it is only destined to be read. If it is not to be followed by any act 
of violence, if it is only to be executed by those who may choose to leave 
the city in order to enjoy the pure air of the country, we shall forget that 
extraordinary order. But should any thincr else happen, we are of opinion 
that the tribunals will, sooner or later, do justice to the victims of that ille- 
gal order. 

'' Every alien friend who shall continue to respect the laws which rule our 
country will continue to be entitled to their protection. Could that general 
order be applied to us, we should calmly wait until we were forced by vio- 
lence to obey it, well convinced of the firmness of the magistrates who aro 



1815.] THE AKRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 311 

tiie .organs of the law in this part of the Union, and the guardians of public 
order. 

" Let us conclude by saying that it is hign time the laws should resume 
their empire ; that the citizens of this State should return to the full enjoy- 
ment of their rights; that, in acknowledging that we are indebted to Gen- 
eral Jackson for the preservation of our city and the defeat of the British, 
we do not feel much inclined, through gratitude, to sacrifice any of our 
privileges, and, less than any other, that of expressing our opinion of the 
acts of his administration; that it is time the citizens accused of any crime 
should be rendered to their natural judges, and cease to be brought before 
special or military tribunals, a kind of institution held in abhorrence, even 
in absolute governments; that, after having done enough for glory, the 
moment of moderation has arrived; and, finally, that the acts of authority 
which the invasion of our country and our safety may have rendered neces- 
sary are, since the evacuation of it by the enemy, no longer compatible 
with our dignity and our oath of making the Constitution respected." 

Here was open defiance. Jacksoti accepted the issue with 
a promptness all his own. He sent an order to the editor of 
the Louisiana Courier, in which the article appeared, com- 
manding his immediate presence at headquarters. The name 
of the author of the communication was demanded and given. 
It was Mr. Louaillier, a member of the Legislature, a gentle- 
man who had distinguished himself by his zeal in the public 
cause, and who had been particularly prominent in promoting 
subscriptions for the relief of the ill-clad soldiers. Upon his 
surrendering the name the editor was dismissed. 

At noon on Sunday, the 5th of March, two days after the 
publication of the article, Mr. Louaillier was walking along 
the levee, opposite one of the most frequented coffee-houses 
in the city, when a Captain Amelung, commanding a file of 
soldiers, taj)ped him on the shoulder and informed him that 
he was a prisoner. Louaillier, astonished and indignant, called 
the bystanders to witness that he was conveyed away against 
his will by armed men. A lawyer, P. L. Morel by name, who 
witnessed the arrest from the steps of the cofiee-house, ran to 
the spot, and was forthwith engaged by Louaillier to act as 
his legal adviser in this extremity. Louaillier was placed in 
confinement. Morel hastened to the residence of Judge Dom- 



312 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1815. 

inick A. Hall, Judge of the District Court of the. United 
States, to whom he presented, in his client's name, the fol- 
lowing petition : 

" L:uis Louaillier, an inhabitant of this district, member of the House of 
llepresentatives of the State of Louisiana, humbly showeth — 

" That he has been this day illegally arrested by F. Amelung, an ofiBcer 
in the forty -fourth regiment, who informed your petitioner that he did arrest 
your said petitioner agreeable to orders given to him (the said F. Amelung) 
by his excellency Major General Jackson ; and that your said petitioner ia 
now illegally detained pursuant to said orders. 

" Wherefore your petitioner prays that a writ of habeas corpus be issued 
to bring him before your honor, that he may be dealt with according to the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States, 

" P. L. Morel, Attorney for the petitioner." 

Upon the back of this petition (to the facts of which Morel 
made affidavit). Judge Hall wrote these words : 

" Let the prayer of the petition be granted, and the petitioner be brought 
before me at eleven o'clock to-morrow. 

" DoM. A. Hall. 
" March 6th." 

Upon receiving this from the hands of the judge, Morel 
wrote a note to General Jackson to the following effect : 

"To HIS EXCELLENCY Major General Jackson : 

" Sir : I have the honor to inform your excellency that, as counsel, I 
have made application to his honor Dom. A. Hall, Judge of the District 
Court of the United States, for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of Mr. 
Louaillier, who conceived that he was illegally arrested by order of your 
excellency; and that the said writ has been awarded, and is returnable 
to-morrow, 6th instant, at eleven o'clock, a. m. 

" I have the honor to be your excellency's most humble and obedient 
servant, 

" P. L. Morel, Counsellor at Law." 

General Jackson retorted by writing a brief epistle to Colo- 
nel Arbuckle, of which the following is a copy : 



1815.] THE AREESTS AT NEW ORLEANS, 313 

"New Orleans, March 5tli, 1815, ) 
" Seven o'clock, p. m. ) 

"Headquarters, Seventh Military District: 

" Having received proof that Dorninick A. Hall has been aiding and 
abetting and exciting mutiny within my camp, you will forthwith order a 
detachment to arrest and confine him, and report to me as soon as arrested. 
You will be vigilant ; the agents of our enemy are moi-e numerous than was 
expected. You will be guarded against escapes. 

" A. Jackson, Major Greneral Commanding. 

" Dr. William E. Butler is ordered to accompany the detachment and 
point out the man. 

" A. Jackson, Major General Commanding." 

This order was punctually obeyed, and, early in the even- 
ing, J udge Hall and Mr. Louallier were prisoners in the same 
apartment in the barracks. 

So far from obeying the writ of habeas corpus, G-eneral 
Jackson seized the writ from the officer who served it, and 
retained it in his own possession, giving to the officer a certi- 
fied copy of the same. Louallier was at once placed upon his 
trial before a court-martial upon the following charges, all 
based upon the article in the Louisiana Courier : Exciting to 
mutiny; general misconduct ; being a spy; illegal and improper 
conduct; disobedience to orders ; writing a willful and corrupt 
libel against the General ; unsoldierly conduct ; violation of a 
general order. 

Nor were these the only arrests. A Mr. Hollander, part- 
ner in business of our friend Nolte, expressed himself some- 
what freely in conversation respecting Jackson's proceedings, 
and suddenly found himself a prisoner in consequence. " My 
partner, Mr. Hollander," says Nolte, " was at the door of the 
Bank Cofiee-House, conversing about Louaillier's letter, and 
praising it and its writer's courage. ' Why,' said he, ' did 
General Jackson allow Colonel Toussard to print his requisi- 
tion in the journals, when he had no intention to free the 
Frenchmen from military service ?' 'Ah,' replied a bystander, 
'his only idea was to find out all who were disposed to side 



314 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

with the consul, in order that he might punish them.' 'It 
was a dirty trick/ said Hollander. This answer was carried 
to the general, who immediately ordered the arrest and trial 
of Hollander, because ' he excited insubordination and mutiny 
in the camp, and talked disrespectfully of his superior officer,' 
Just as Hollander and I were dining together on the next 
day, my house was surrounded by a hundred men, and Major 
Davezac — so often mentioned — with squinting eye and golden 
epaulettes, stalked in to arrest and carry off Hollander. I 
went at once to Adjutant Livingston to procure the liberation 
of my friend, and he persuaded the general to accept my bail 
for two thousand dollars for the future appearance of Hol- 
lander before the court-martial." 

On Monday, March 6th, the day after the arrest of Louail- 
lier and Judge Hall, the courier arrived at New Orleans who 
had been dispatched from Washington, nineteen days before, 
to bear to General Jackson the news of peace. He had trav- 
eled fast, by night and day, and most eagerly had his coming 
been looked for. His packet was opened at headquarters and 
found to contain no dispatches announcing the conclusion of 
peace ; but an old letter, of no importance then, which had 
been written by the Secretary of War to General Jackson 
some months before. It appeared that, in the hurry of his 
departure from Washington, the courier had taken the wrong 
packet. The blank astonishment of the General, of his aids, 
of the courier, can be imagined. The only proof the unlucky 
messenger could furnish of the genuineness of his mission and 
the truth of his intelligence was an order from - the Postmas- 
ter General, requiring his deputies on the route to aiford the 
courier bearing the news of peace all the facilities in their 
power for the rapid performance of his journey. In ordinary 
circumstances this would have sufficed. But the events of 
yesterday had rendered the circumstances extraordinary. The 
General resolved still to hold the reins of military power firmly 
in his hands. New Orleans was still a camp, and Judge Hall 
a soldier.- 

Jackson wrote, however, to General Lambert on the same 



1815.] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 315 

day, stating precisely what had occurred, and inclosing a copy 
of the Postmaster General's order : "that you may determine," 
;aid the General, " whether these occurrences will not justify 
fou in agreeing, hy a cessation of all hostilities, to anticipate 
the happy return of peace between our two nations, which 
the first direct intelligence must bring to us in an official 
form." 

The week had nearly passed away. Judge Hall remained 
in confinement at the barracks. General Jackson resolved on 
Saturday, the 11th of March, to send the judge out of the 
city, and set him at liberty. Accordingly, on Sunday morn- 
ing, Captain Peter V, Ogden, commanding a troop of dra- 
goons, received from headquarters the following order : 

"Headquarters Seventh Military District, } 
New Orleans, March 11, 1815. ) 

"Sir: You will detail from your troop a discreet nou-commissioned 
officer and four men, and direct them to call on the officer commaiidino' 
the Third United States infantry for Dominick A. Hall, who is confined in 
the guard-house for exciting mutiny and desertion within the encampment 
of the city. 

"Upon receipt of the prisoner, the non-commissioned officer will con- 
duct him up the coast beyond the lines of General Carroll's encampment, 
deliver him the inclosed order, and set him at liberty. 

"Thomas Butler, 

" Aid-de-camp. 
"Captain Peter V. Ogden, 

"Commanding troop of cavalry, New Orleans." 

Inclosed wtth this laconic epistle was an order from the 
General to Judge Hall : " I have thought proper," said the 
General, "to send you beyond the limits of my encampment, 
to prevent a rej)etition of the improper conduct with which 
you have been charged. You will remain without the lines 
of my sentinels until the ratification of peace is regularly 
announced, or until the British shall have left the southern 
coast.".. 

Captain Ogden promptly obeyed the order, A guard of 
four privates, commanded by a non-commissioned officer, 



316 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

escorted the learned Judge of the United States District 
Court to a point about five miles above the city, where 
General Jackson's order was delivered to him, and he was 
set free. 

Brief was the exile of the banished judge. The very next 
day, Monday, March 13th, arrived from Washington a courier 
with a dispatch from the government, announcing the ratifi- 
cation of the treaty of peace, and enclosing a copy of the treaty 
and of the ratification. Before that day closed the joyful news 
was forwarded to the British general, hostilities were publicly 
declared to be at an end, martial law was abrogated, and com- 
merce released, "And in order," concluded the General's 
proclamation, " that the general joy attending this event may 
extend to all manner of persons, the commanding General 
proclaims and orders a pardon for all military ofienses hereto- 
fore committed in this district, and orders that all persons 
in confinement, under such charges, be immediately dis- 
charged." 

Louallier was a prisoner no longer. Judge Hall returned 
to his home. 

On the day following, the patient militia and volunteers 
of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana were dis- 
missed, with a glorious burst of grateful praise : " Go, then, 
my brave companions, to your homes, to those tender connec- 
tions and those blissful scenes which render life so dear — full 
of honor, and crowned with laurels which will never fade. 
With what happiness will you not, when participating in the 
bosoms of your families the enjoyment of peaceful life, look back 
to the toils you have borne — to the dangers you have encoun- 
tered ? How will all your past exposures be converted into 
sources of inexpressible delight ? Who, that never experi- 
enced your sufierings, will be able to appreciate your joys ? 
The man who slumbered ingloriously at home, during your 
painful marches, your nights of watchfulness, and your days 
of toil, will envy you the happiness which these recollections 
will afibrd — still more will he envy you the gratitude of that 
country which you have so eminently contributed to save. 



1815.] THE ARKESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 317 

" Continue, fellow-soldiers, on your passage to your sev- 
eral destinations, to preserve that subordination, that digni- 
fied and manly deportment which have so ennobled your 
character. "•••' * * * * * 

" What a happiness it is to the commanding General 
that, while danger was before us, he was, on no occasion, 
compelled to use towards his companions in arms either 
severity or rebuke. If, after the enemy had retired, improper • 
passions began to show their empire in a few unworthy 
bosoms, and rendered a resort to energetic measures necessary 
for their suppression, the commanding General has not con- 
founded the innocent with the guilty — the seduced with the 
seducers. Towards you, fellow-soldiers, the most cheering 
recollections exist, blended, alas ! with regret, that disease 
and war should have ravished from us so many worthy com- 
panions. But the memory of the cause in which they per- 
ished, and of the virtues which animated them while living, 
must occupy the place where sorrow would claim to dwell. 

" Farewell, fellow-soldiers. The expression of your Gen- 
eral's thanks is feeble, but the gratitude of a country of free- 
men is yours — yours the applause of an admiring world." 

I shall not dwell long upon the subsequent proceedings 
of Judge Hall. March 22d, in the United States District 
Court, on motion of Attorney John Dick, it was ruled and 
ordered by the court that " the said Major General Andrew 
Jackson show cause, on Friday next, the 24th March instant, 
at ten o'clock, a. m., why an attachment should not be 
awarded against him for contempt of this court, in having 
disrespectfully wrested from the clerk aforesaid an original 
order of the honorable the judge of this court, for the issuing 
of a writ of habeas corpus in the case of a certain Louis Lou- 
ailier, then imprisoned by the said Major General Andrew 
Jackson, and for detaining the same ; also for disregarding 
the said writ of habeas corpus, when issued and served ; in 
having imprisoned the honorable the judge of this court ; 
aod for other contempts, as stated by the witnesses." 

Edward Livingston prepared an elaborate paper in the 



318 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

General's defense, which, on the convening of the court, he 
offered to read. The court declined to hear general argu- 
ment in the case. "If," said the judge, "the party object to 
the jurisdiction, the court is ready to hear. If the party's 
affidavit contain a denial of the facts sworn to, or if he wish 
to show that the facts charged do not in law amount to a con- 
tempt, the court is ready to hear. If the answer contain 
anything as an apology to the court, it is ready to hear. If 
the party be desirous to show that, by the Constitution or 
laws of the United States, or in virtue of his military com- 
mission, he had a right to act as charged in the affidavit, the 
court is ready to hear." 

After some debate the General's representative was allowed 
to begin the reading of the paper, which was an argument 
designed to show the necessity that had existed for the procla- 
mation of martial law. The judge interrupted the reading, 
declared the " rule against the party to be absolute," and 
ordered " the attachment to be sued out ;" the process to be 
returnable on the 31st of March. 

On that day General Jackson appeared in court, attended 
by a prodigious concourse of excited people. He wore the 
dress of a private citizen. " Undiscovered amidst the crowd," 
Major Eaton relates, " he had nearly reached the bar, when, 
being perceived, the room instantly rang with the shouts of a 
thousand voices. Raising himself on a bench, and moving 
his hand to procure silence, a pause ensued. He then ad- 
dressed himself to the crowd ; told them of the duty due to 
the public authorities ; for that any impropriety of theirs 
would be imputed to him, and urged, if they had any regard 
for him, that they Avould, on the present occasion, forbear 
those feelings and expressions of opinion. Silence being re- 
stored, the judge rose from his seat, and remarking that ii 
was impossible, nor safe, to transact business at such a mo- 
ment, and under such threatening circumstances, directed 
the marshal to adjourn the court. The general immediately 
interfered, and requested that it might not be done. ' There 
is no dano;er here : there shall be none — the same arm that 



1815.] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 319 

protected from outrage this city, against the invaders of the 
country, will shield and protect this court, or perish in the 
effort/ 

" Tranquillity was restored, and the court proceeded to 
business. The district attorney had prepared, and now pre- 
sented, a file of nineteen questions, to be answered by the 
prisoner. ' Did you not arrest Louaillicr ?' ' Did you not 
arrest the judge of this court ?' ' Did you not seize the writ 
of habeas corpus ?' ' Did you not say a variety of disrespect- 
ful things of the judge ?' These nineteen inj;errogatories the 
General utterly refused to answer, to listen to, or to receive. 
He told the court that in the paper previously presented by 
his counsel he had explained fully the reasons that had in- 
fluenced his conduct. That paper had been rejected without 
a hearing. He could add nothing to that paper. ' Under 
these circumstances,' said he, ' I appear before you to receive 
the sentence of the court, having nothing further in my de- 
fense to offer.' " 

Whereupon Judge Hall pronounced the judgment of the 
court. It is recorded in the words following : " On this day 
appeared in person Major Greneral Andrew Jackson, and, be- 
ing duly informed by the court that an attachment had is- 
sued against him for the purpose of bringing him into court, 
and the district attorney having filed interrogatories, the court 
informed General Jackson that they would be tendered to him 
for the purpose of answering thereto. The said General Jack- 
son refused to receive them, or to make any answer to the 
said interrogatories. . Whereupon the court proceeded to pro- 
nounce judgment, which was, that Major General Andrew 
Jackson do pay a fine of one thousand dollars to the United 
States." 

The General was borne from the court-room in triumph. 
Or, as Major Eaton has it, " he was seized and forcibly hur- 
ried from the hall to the streets, amidst the reiterated cries 
of huzza for Jackson from the immense concourse that sur- 
rounded him. They presently met a carriage in which a lady 
was riding, when, politely taking her from it, the General wsa 



320 LIFE or ANDEEW JACKSON. [1815. 

made, spite of entreaty, to occupy her place ; the horses being 
removed, the carriage was drawn on and halted at the coffee- 
house, into which he was carried, and thither the crowd fol- 
lowed, huzzaing for Jackson and menacing violently the judge. 
Having prevailed on them to hear him, he addressed them 
with great feeling and earnestness ; implored them to run in- 
to no excesses ; that if they had the least gratitude for hia 
services, or regard for him personally, they could evince it in 
no way so satisfactorily as by assenting, as he most freely did, 
to the decision which had just been pronounced against him." 

Upon reaching his quarters he sent back an aid-de-camp 
to the court-room with a check on one of the city banks for a 
thousand dollars ; and thus the offended majesty of the law 
was supposed to be avenged. 

It is not to be inferred from the conduct of the people in 
the court-room that the course of General Jackson, in main- 
taining martial law so long after the conclusion of peace was 
morally certain, was generally approved by the people of New 
Orleans. It was not. It was approved by many, forgiven 
by most, resented by a few. An effort was made to raise the 
amount of the General's fine by a public subscription, to which 
no one was allowed to contribute more than one dollar. But 
Noltc tills us (how truly I know not) that, after raising with 
difficulty one hundred and sixty dollars, the scheme was 
quietly given up. He adds that the court-room on the day 
of the General's appearance was occupied chiefly by the Bar- 
ratarians and the special partizans of the General. 

The administration mildly, but decidedly, rebuked the 
proceedings of General Jackson. April 12th, the acting Sec- 
retary of War, Mr. A. J. Dallas, wrote thus to the General : 
. . . . " I assure you, sir, that it is a very painful task 
to disturb for a moment the enjoyment of the honorable grati- 
fication which you must derive, as well from the consciousness 
of the great services that you have rendered your country as 
from the expressions of approbation and applause which the 
nation have bestowed on those services. But representations 
have been recently made to the President respecting certain 



1815.] THE ARRESTS AT NEW ORLEANS. 321 

acts of military opposition to the civil magistrate that re- 
quire immediate attention, not only in vindication of the just 
authority of the laws, but to rescue your own conduct from 
all unmerited reproach." .... 

" From these representations it would appear that the 
judicial power of the United States has been resisted, the 
liberty of the press has been suspended, and the consul and 
subjects of a friendly government have been exposed to great 
inconvenience by the exercise of military force and command. 
The President views the subject in its present aspect with 
surprise and solicitude ; but in the absence of all information 
from yourself relative to your conduct, and the motives of 
your conduct, he abstains from any decision, or even expres- 
sion of an opinion upon the case, in hopes that such explan- 
ations may be afforded as will reconcile his sense of public 
duty with a continuance of confidence which he reposes in 
your judgment, discretion and patriotism. He instructs me, 
therefore, to request that you will, with all possible dispatch, 
transmit to this department a full report of the transactions 
which have been stated. And in the meantime it is pre- 
sumed that all extraordinar}' exertion of military authority 
has ceased, in consequence of the cessation of all danger, open 
or covert, upon the restoration of peace. 

" The President instructs me to take this opportunity of 
requesting that a conciliatory deportment may be observed 
towards the State authorities and citizens of New Orleans. 
He is persuaded that Louisiana justly estimates the value of 
the talents and valor which have been displayed for her de- 
fense and safety, and that there will be no disposition in any 
part of the nation to review with severity the efforts of a 
commander acting in a crisis of unparalleled difficulty, under 
the impulse of the purest patriotism." 

General Jackson replied to this communication by for- 
warding to the Secretary the rejected paper, in which he had 
caused to be stated his reasons for proclaiming and maintain- 
ing martial law. The matter was then allowed to drop, and 
was heard of no more for many years. 

VOL. II. — 21 



322 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

CH APTEK XXIV. 

HOME IN TRIUMPH. 

The General's troubles were at an end. He remained at 
New Orleans twenty-four days after the arrival of the treaty 
of peace, settling the accounts of contractors and "merchants, 
and enjoying the festivities set on foot by the grateful citizens. 

Signer Nolte tells us that he found the General a hard man 
to deal with. " My claim," says Nolte, " was a double one, 
first, for seven hundred and fifty woolen coverings, taken out 
of my warerooms ; second, for two hundred and fifty bales 
of cotton, taken from the brigantine Pallas. For the first I 
received the price that was current on the day that the land- 
ing of the EngUsh was announced — eleven dollars per pair. 
All settlements required the General's ratification and signa- 
ture. On this occasion he gave both, but with the remark 
that as my goods had been taken to cover the Tennessee 
troops, I should be paid in Tennessee bank notes, upon which 
there was a discount of nearly ten per cent. I was silent." 
But with regard to the price of the cotton Nolte and the 
General could not agree at all ; Nolte demanding the price 
the cotton was worth then — the General ofiering only the 
price at which the cotton was held when it was used in forti- 
fying the lines. " I made a written protest," says Nolte, 
" but the General would not notice it. Then I determined 
to call on him in the hopes of awakening a sense of justice in 
him. He heard me, but that was all. ' Are you not lucky,' 
he asked, ' to have saved the rest of your cotton by my de- 
fense ?' ' Certainly, General,' I said, ' as lucky as anybody 
else in the city whose cotton has been thus saved. But the 
difference between me and the rest is, that all the others have 
nothing to pay, and that I have to bear all the loss.' ' Loss !' 
said the General, getting excited, ' why, you have saved all!' 
I saw that argument was useless with so stiff'-necked a man, 
and remarked to him that I only wanted compensation for 



1815.] HOME IN TRIUMPH. 323 

my cotton, and that the best compensation would be to give 
me precisely the quantity that had been taken from me, and 
of the same quality ; that he might name one merchant and 
I another, who should buy and deliver to me the cotton, and 
rhat he should pay the bill. ' No, no, sir,' ho answered, ' I 
like straightforward business, and this is too complicated. . 
You must take six cents for your cotton, I have nothing 
more to say.' As I again endeavored to explain, he said, 
' Come, sir, come — take a glass of whisky and water ; you 
must be d — d dry after all your arguing.' " 

A few days after the announcement of peace, a party of / 
Tennesseans arrived in New Orleans, and among them, to •'' 
the General's great joy, Mrs. Jackson and little Andrew, their 
adopted son, then a boy of seven. Mrs. Jackson, a thorough 
planter's wife, homely in costume and speech, then grown 
corpulent, and of complexion extremely dark, was a strange 
figure among the elegant Creole ladies of New Orleans. 
Never before had she visited a city larger than the Nashville 
of that day. She frankly confessed to Mrs. Livingston that 
she knew nothing about fine company and fine clothes, and 
had no resource but to throw herself upon the guidance of 
her friends. Mrs. Livingston undertook the task of select- 
ing for her suitable dresses for the various public occasions 
on which she was expected to appear. The anti-Jackson 
party published a caricature at the time, in which the short 
and stout Mrs. Jackson was represented standing upon a 
table, while Mrs. Livingston was employed in lacing her 
stays, struggling to make a waist where a waist had been, 
but was not. It was remarkable that General Jackson, X 
though himself an adept in drawing-room arts, and at home 
in elegant society, was blind to the homely bearing and coun- 
try manners of his wife. He put great honor upon her at 
New Orleans ; in all companies, on all occasions, giving 
proof to the world that this bonny brown wife of his was to 
him the dearest and the most revered of human beings. The 
ladies of the city soon gathered round her, and made much 
of her. Among other marks of regard, they presented her 



324 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

with that valuable but rather showy set of topaz jewelry, 
which appears on her person in the portrait that hangs still 
in the parlor of the Hermitage. To the General, also, the 
ladies presented a valuable diamond pin. " The world heaps 
many honors on me," said he to the ladies, "but none is 
gi'eater than this." 

Nolte gives us a comical account of the grand ball at the 
Exchange, where the General and Mrs. Jackson gave the com- 
pany a taste of a frontier breakdown. Nolte was one of the 
committee of arrangements. " The upper part of the Ex- 
change was arranged for dancing, and the under part for 
supper, with flowers, colored lamps, and transparencies with 
inscriptions. Before supper, Jackson desired to look at the 
arrangements unaccompanied, and I was appointed to con- 
duct him. One of the transparencies between the arcades 
bore the inscription, 'Jackson and victory: they are but one.' 
The General looked at it, and turned about to me in a hail- 
fellow sort of way, saying, ' Why did you not write, " Hickory 
and victory: they are but one." ' After supper we were treated 
to a most delicious j9as de deux by the conqueror and his spouse. 
To see these two figures, the General, a long, haggard man, 
with limbs like a skeleton, and Madame la Generale, a short, 
fat dumpling, bobbing opposite each other like half-drunken 
Indians, to the wild melody of ^Possum up de Gum Tree,' and 
endeavoring to make a spring into the air, was very remark- 
able, and far more edifying a spectacle than any European 
ballet could possibly have furnished." 

Little Andrew was a pet at headquarters. The General 
could deny him nothing, and spent every leisure moment in 
playing with him, often holding him in his arms while he 
transacted business. One evening, a lady informs me, some 
companies of soldiers halted beneath the Avindows of head- 
quarters, and the attending crowd began to cheer the General 
and call for his appearance — a common occurrence in those 
days. The little boy, who was asleep in an adjoining room, was 
awakened by the noise, and began to cry. The General had 
risen from his chair, and was going to the window to present 



1815.] HOME IN TRIUMPH. 325 

himself to the clamoring crowd, when he heard the cry of the 
child. He paused in the middle of the room, and seemed in 
doubt for a moment which call he should first obey, the boy's 
or the citizens'. The doubt was soon resolved, however. He 
ran to the bedside of his son, caught him in his arms, hushed 
his cries, and carried him (in his night gown) to the window, 
where he bowed to the people, and, at the same time, amused 
the child with the scene in the street. 

During these happy days some of the English officers came 
up to the city and viewed, with intense interest, the scene of 
the late contest. A letter written by the American officer 
who conveyed to General Lambert the news of the ratification 
of the treaty of peace mentions this circumstance. " We 
went down the river," he says, "in a sixteen-oared barge, 
and had several respectable young gentlemen of the city with 
us, and a band of music furnished by them. We arrived at 
Dauphin Island in three days, and anchored abreast of the 
British camp about four o'clock in the afternoon, and fired 
a salute, while the band played our favorite tunes of Hail 
Columbia and Yankee Doodle. The shore was lined with 
hundreds of Englishmen, cheering over and over, as they 
knew by the flag at our masthead that we brought them the 
welcome news of peace. We remained on the island three 
days, and were treated with every mark of attention and re- 
spect by all of them, and then proceeded on to Mobile to 
inform our army there of the news of peace. On our return 
we stopped again at Dauphin Island and took several English 
officers on board and brought them up to town. All these 
officers have the greatest desire to see this city and our lines 
on the battle ground, where we beat them so handsomely. 
We run them very hard about it, which they took in good 
humor, and they candidly acknowledged 'that they had 
fought many hard battles in France, Spain, etc., but never 
met with such play as they received from us Yankees I' 
After their retreat from New Orleans, they landed on Dau- 
phin Island, which then was a desolate place, but now it 
looks like a complete town. They have about eight thou- 



326 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

Banid men there, who are almost in a state of starvation. We 
are now supplying them with provisions of every kind."* 

To which another singular fact may be added. General 
Lambert's division returned to Europe in time to take part in 
the battle of Waterloo, fought on the 18th of June, 1815, and 
afterwards marched to Paris with the victorious army. At 
Paris some of the officers who had been prisoners at New 
Orleans met the very Americans at whose houses they had 
been quartered, and exchanged suppers in renewal of the 
friendship then formed. Our invaluable friend Nolte was 
there. "Suddenly one day," he tells us, "I found myself 
surrounded by several English officers, who greeted me with a 
cheery ' How do you do, Mr. Nolte ^' My newly-found ac- 
quaintances were Major Mitchell, Lieutenant Dobree, and 
others, who had fallen into our hands as prisoners at New 
Orleans, and who felt very grateful for the friendly treatment 
they had experienced there in my house during the brief 
period that elapsed after their capture until the ratification 
of peace at Ghent." 

General Winfield Scott was in Paris then, and in the 
course of his stay presided at a banquet of ninety Americans, 
and gave, as the toast of the occasion, "General Jackson and 
his glorious defense of New Orleans." 

Amid the excitement caused in Europe by the return of 
Napoleon from Elba, the battle of Waterloo, and the subse- 
quent exile of the emperor, little was heard, and less was 
thought, of the events that had transpired in the delta of the 
Mississippi. A vague, brief, and incorrect bulletinf was pub- 

* National Intelligencer, May 15, 1815. 

f The following is a copy of this document, which, Mr. Cobbett says, " was 
dressed up to gull the people of England with:" 

" Bulletin. — War Department, March 8, 1815. 

" Captain Wylly arrived this morning with dispatches from Major Creneral 
Lambert, detailing the operations against the enemy in the neighborhood of New 
Orleans. It apears that the army, under the command of Major General Keane, 
was landed at the head of the Bayonne, in the vicinity of New Orleans, on the 



1815.] H M E I N T n I U M P H . 327 

lisned in the English official Gazette, and then the expedition 
against New Orleans was allowed to be forgotten. 

Before leaving New Orleans. G-eneral Jackson presented 
his friend Livingston with a miniature of himself, accompany- 
ing the gift with a note expressive of his appreciation of his 
ard-de-camp's services to himself and to the cause. This 
miniature, still in perfect preservation, is the earliest portrait 
of the General now in existence. It is so unlike the portraits 
familiar to the public, that not a man in the United States 



morning of the 23d of December, without opposition; it was, however, attacked 
by the enemy in the course of the night succoeding the landing, when, after an 
obstinate contest, the enemy were repulsed at all points with considerable loss. 
On the morning of the 25tli, Sir Edward Packenham arrived, and assumed the 
command of the army. On the 27th, at daylight, the troops moved forward, 
driving the enemy's pickets to within six miles of the town, when the main body 
of the enemy was discovered posted behind a breastwork, extending about one 
thousand yards, with the right resting on the Mississippi and the left on a thick 
wood. The interval between the 27th December and the 8th January was em- 
ployed in preparations for an attack upon the enemy's position. The attack, 
which was intended to have been made on the night of the 7th, cUd not, owing 
to the difficulties experienced in tlie passage of the Mississippi by a corps under 
Lieutenant Colonel Thornton, which was destined to act on the right bank of the 
river, take place till early on the morning of the 8th. The division to whom the 
storming of the enemy's work was intrusted moved to the attack at that time, 
but being too soon discovered by the enemy were received with a galling and 
severe fire from all parts of their line. Major General Sir Edward Packenham, 
who had placed himself at the head of the troops, was unfortunately killed at 
the head of the glacis, and Major Generals Gibbs and Keane were nearly at the 
same moment wounded. The efiect of this upon the troops caused a hesitation 
in their advance, and though order was restored by the advance of *he reserve 
under Major General Lambert, to whom the command of the army hi.d devolved, 
and Colonel Thornton had succeeded in the operation assigned to him on the 
right bank of the river, yet the major general, upon the consideration of tho 
difficulties which yet remained to be surmounted, did not think himself justified 
in ordering a renewal of the attack. The troops, therefore, retired to the position 
which they had occupied previous to the attack. In that position they remained 
until the evening of the 18th, when the whole of the wounded, with the excep- 
tion of eighty (whom it was considered dangerous to remove), the field artillery, 
end all the stores of every description having been embarked, the army retired 
to the head of the Bayonne, where the landing had been originally effected, and 
reembarked without molestation." 



328 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

would recognize in it the features of General Jackson. Abun- 
dant, reddish-sandy hair falls low over the high, narrow fore- 
head, and almost hides it from view. The head is long, which 
Mr. Carlyle thinks one of the surest signs of talent. Eyes of 
a remarkably bright blue. Complexion fair, fresh and ruddy. 
A mild, firm, plain, good country face. He wears the full 
uniform of a major general of that day — blue coat with stiff 
upright collar to the ears, epaulets, yellow vest with Upright 
collar and gilt buttons, rufiled shirt. The miniature reminds 
you of a good country deacon out for a day's soldiering. The 
still, set countenance wears what I will venture to call a Pres- 
byterian expression. 

The General did not forget the little daughter of his 
friend Livingston, but sent her a little broach in a little note, 
both of which, I have heard, she still preserves. She won- 
dered much, it is said, that the General should think of her 
amid the hurry and bustle of his departure. 

On the 6th of April General Jackson and his family left 
New Orleans on their return to Tennessee, and ascended the 
river as far as Natchez. There the General was detained by 
the proceedings of Blennerhassett, famous from his brief con- 
nection with Aaron Burr. 

Mr. Blennerhassett had found in a portmanteau of Burr's 
that had fallen into his possession a memorandum of the ac- 
count between Colonel Burr and the firm of Jackson & Coflee. 
From the memorandum it appeared that Jackson & Cofiee 
had not expended all the money deposited by Burr in their 
hands, but that a balance of more than seventeen hundred 
dollars had remained in their possession. This was true; but 
the memorandum did not record what was equally true, ttiat 
this balance had been returned to Burr on the final settlement of 
the account, at Clover Bottom, in December, 1806. Blenner- 
hassett, who conceived that Burr was deeply in his debt, sued 
General Jackson for this balance. General Cofiee made an 
afiidavit to the effect that the money had been returned to 
Burr in the very notes in which it had been received from him. 



1815.] HOME IN TRIUMPH. 329 

General Jackson, on appearing before the court, gave tlie same 
testimony, and the case was dismissed.* 

With the exception of this unwelcome reminder of the 
past, the journey homeward was one ovation. On approach- 
ing Nashville the General was again met by a procession of 
troops, students, and citizens, who deputed one of their num- 
ber to welcome him in an address. At Nashville a vast con- 
course was assembled, among whom were many of the troops 
who had served under him at New Orleans. The greatest 
enthusiasm prevailed. Within the court-house Mr. Felix 
Grundy received the General with an eloquent speech, recount- 
ing in glowing periods the leading events of the last cam- 
paigns. The students of Cumberland College also addressed 
the General. The replies of General Jackson to these various 
addresses were short, simple, and sufficient. To Mr. Felix 
Grundy he said : — 

" Sir : I am at a loss to express my feelings. The approbation of my 
fellow-citizens is to me the richest reward. Through you, sir, I beg leave 
to assure them that I am this day amply compensated for every toil and 
labor. 

" In a war forced upon us by the multiplied wrongs of a nation who 
envied our increasing prosperity, important and difficult duties were assigned 
me. I have labored to discharge them faithfully, having a single eye to 
the honor of my country, 

" The bare consciousness of having performed my duty would have been 
a source of great happiness ; but the assurance that what I have done meets 
your approbation enhances that happiness greatly. 

* The following is the record, obligingly copied by Colonel B. L. C. Wailea, 
President of the Mississippi Historical Society: — 

Washington, Mississippi Tereitoky, ) 

Superior Court of Adams County, Friday, April 21st, 1815. f 

Present — Hon. "Walter Leaice and Georqe Poindexter, Judges. 

Hermak Blennerhassett 1 Andrew Jackson, garnishee in this case, being 

vs. > sworn, saith that he is not indebted to the de- 

Aaron Burr. j fendant anything, nor has he any effects of the 

defendant in his hands, nor does he know of any person indebted, or having any 

effects of the defendant in their hands. 

Judgment nm against Andrew Jackson, garnishee in this case, set aside. 



330 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON, [1815 

" I beg you to believe, my friends and neighbors, that wliile I rejoice 
with you in the return of peace, and unite my prayers with yours for its long 
continuance, it will ever be my highest pride to render you my best ser- 
vices, when nations, mistaking our peaceful disposition for pusillanimity, 
shall insult and outrage those feelings and rights which belong to us as an 
independent nation." 

To the students of the college he thus replied : 

"Young G-entlemen: With lively feelhigs of pride and joy I receive 
your address. To find that even the youth of my country, although en- 
gaged in literary pursuits and exempt from military duty, are willing, when 
the voice of patriotism calls, to abandon for a time the seat of the muses for 
the privations of a camp, excites in my heart the warmest interest. The 
country which has the good fortune to be defended by soldiers animated 
by such feelings as those young gentlemen who were once members of the 
same literary institution you now are, and whom I had the honor to com- 
mand, will never be in danger from internal or external foes. Their good 
conduct, on many trying occasions, will never be forgotten by their General 

" It is a source of particular satisfaction to me that you duly appreciate 
the merits of those worthy and highly distinguished generals — Carroll and 
Coffee. Their example is worthy imitation ; and from the noble senti- 
ments which you on this occasion express, I entertain no doubt that if cir- 
cumstances require you will emulate their deeds of valor. It is to such 
officers and their brave associates in arms that Tennessee, in military 
achievements, can vie with the most renowned of her sister States. 

" That your academic labors may be crowned with the fullest success, 
by fulfilling the high expectations of your relatives and friends, is the 
ardent and sincere wish of my heart. 

" Receive, my young friends, my prayers for your future health and 
prosperity." 

To a large number of his neighbors and friends, who met 
him on his return to the Hermitage, he said : 

'* The warm testimonials of your friendship and regard I receive, gen- 
tlemen, with the liveliest sensibility. The assurance of the approbation of 
my countrymen, and particularly of my acquaintances and neighbors, is 
the most grateful offering that can be made me. It is a rich compensation 
for many sacrifices and many labors. I rejoice with you, gentlemen, on 
the able manner in which the sons of America, during a most eventful and 
perilous conflict, have approved themselves worthy of the precious inheri- 
tance beq[ueathed to them by their fathers. They have given a new proof 



1815.] HOME IN TRIUMPH. 331 

how impossible it is to conquer freemen fighting in defense of all that is 
dear to them. Henceforward we shall be respected by nations who, mis- 
taking our character, had treated us with the utmost contumely and out- 
rage. Years will continue to develop our inherent qualities, until, from 
being the youngest and the weakest, we shall become the most powerful 
nation in the universe. 

" Such is the high destiny which I persuade myself Heaven has re- 
served for the sons of freedom. 

" I rejoice also with you, gentlemen, at the return of peace under cir- 
cumstances so fortunate for our fame and our interest. In this happy state 
of things the inexhaustible resources of our country wiU be unfolded, and 
the greatness for which .she is designed be hastened to maturity. Amongst 
the private blessings thence to be expected I anticipate, with the highest 
satisfaction, the cultivation of that friendly intercourse with my neighbors 
and friends which has heretofore constituted so great a portion of my hap- 
piness." 

The crowning event of these triumphal festivities was 
a grand banquet given at Nashville on the twenty-second of 
May, attended by the most distinguished of the soldiers and 
citizens of Tennessee ; the Governor of the State presiding. 
At a pause in the feast, Governor Blount presented to Gen- 
eral Jackson the sword voted him the year before by the 
Legislature of Mississippi, for his services in the Creek war. 
The note written by Governor Blount to the Governor of 
Mississippi, announcing the presentation of the sword, has 
found its way, by some curious chance, into the portfolio of 
one of our autograph collectors. " Yesterday," wrote Gov- 
ernor Blount, " at a dinner given by the citizens of this place 
and vicinity to Major-General Andrew Jackson, 1 had the 
honor and pleasure to deliver in your name to that distin- 
guished patriot, citizen, and hero, the truly elegant sword 
voted to be presented to him through your excellency. It 
was presented in the dining-room in the presence of hundreds 
of his fellow-citizens, and was received by the General in a 
manner highly honorable to him, and gratifying to those who 

were present."* 

And so we dismiss the hero home to his beloved Hermit- 

* A\itograph Collection of Gordon L. Ford, Esq., of New Tork. 



332 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1815. 

age, there to recruit his impaired energies by a brief period of 
repose. He had been absent from the Hermitage for the 
space of twenty-one months, with the exception of three 
weeks between the end of the Creek war and the beginning 
of the campaign of New Orleans. He needed rest almost as 
much as he deserved it. He had served his country well. 
In the way of fighting, nothing better has been done in 
modern times thafi the defense of the Gulf coast by Andrew 
Jackson and the men he commanded. His conduct of the two 
campaigns was admirable and noble. It will bear the closest 
examination, and the better it is understood the more it will 
be applauded. The success of General Jackson's military 
career was due to three separate exertions of his will : 
First, his resolve not to give up the Creek war, when Gov- 
ernor Blount advised it, when Coffee was sick, when the 
troops were flying homeward, when the General was almost 
alone in the wilderness. Second, his determination to clear 
the English out of Pensacola. Third, and greatest of all, his 
resolution to attack the British wherever and whenever they 
landed, no matter what the disparity of forces. It was that 
resolve that saved New Orleans. And it is to be observed of 
these measures that they were all irregular, contrary to pre- 
cedent, "imprudent," — measiu'es which no council of war 
would have advised, and no secretary of war ordered ; meas- 
ures which, failing, all the world would have hooted at, — 
which, succeeding, the world "can never praise enough. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE GENERAL RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 

General Jackson spent the summer months at the Her- 
mitage, nursing his shattered constitution. Now that he was 
at home, he seemed to suffer more from his disease than he 
had during the fatigues and excitement of the late campaign. 



1815.] RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 333 

He liad always been an impetuous eater, fond of a liberal table, 
and accustomed to partake freely and largely of whatever good 
things were before him. He was one of those long, thin men. 
who ply a vigorous knife and fork all their days and never 
grow fat. He was liable to forget his complaint in the ex- 
hilaration of the table, and by eating as he had been wont 
formerly to eat bring on a relapse. The autumn, however, 
found him somewhat improved, and more habituated to con- 
trol his eager appetite. 

This was the summer, as we have just mentioned, of the 
Waterloo campaign. General Jackson watched its progi'ess 
and followed the varying fortunes of the Emperor with the 
most intense interest. His sympathies were wholly and 
warmly with Napoleon, as they had always been. In 1814, 
when the news came that Marmont had surrendered Paris 
and that Napoleon was an exile, Jackson was greatly excited. 
" It w^as not Marmont," he would say, " that betrayed the 
Emperor ; it was Paris. He should have done with Paris 
what the Eussians did with Moscow — burnt it, sir, burnt it 
to the ground, and thrown himself on the country for sup- 
port. So / would have done, and my country would have 
sustained me in it." It was all over now with the great Cor- 
sican, and Greneral Jackson was one of those who lamented 
his fall. 

Four months' rest at the Hermitage. In the cool days of 
October we find the General on horseback once more, riding 
slowly through Tennessee, across Virginia, toward the city of 
Washington — the whole journey a triumphal progress. At 
Lynchburgh, in Virginia, the people turned out en masse to 
greet the conqueror. A number of gentlemen rode out of 
town to meet him, one of whom saluted the General with an 
address, to which he briefly replied. Escorted into the town 
on the 7th of November, he was received by a prodigious 
assemblage of citizens and all the militia companies of the 
vicinity, who welcomed him with an enthusiasm that can be 
imagined. In the afternoon a grand banquet, attended by 
three hundred persons, was served in honor of the General 



334 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

Among the distinguished guests was Thomas Jefferson, then 
seventy-two years of age, the most revered of American citi- 
zens then living. His residence was only a long day's ride 
from Lynchburgh, and he had come to join in the festivities 
of this occasion. The toast offered by the ex-president at the 
banquet at Lynchburgh has been variously rej^orted, but in 
the newspapers of the day it is uniformly given in these words, 
" Honor and gratitude to those who have filled the measure 
of their country's honor." General Jackson volunteered a 
toast, which was at once graceful and significant, "James 
Monroe, late Secretary of War ;" graceful, because Mr. Mon- 
roe was a Virginian, a friend of Mr. Jefferson, and had nobly 
cooperated with himself in the defense of New Orleans ; sig- 
nificant, because Mr. Monroe was a very prominent candidate 
for the Presidency, and the election was drawing near. 

To horse again the next morning. Nine days' riding 
brought the General to Washington, which he reached in 
the evening of November 17th, He called the next morning 
upon the President and the members of the Cabinet, by 
whom he was welcomed to the capital with eveiy mark of 
cordiality and respect. His stay at Washington, I need not 
say, was an almost ceaseless round of festivity. A great 
public dinner was given him, which was attended by all that 
Washington could boast of the eminent and the eloquent. 
He was lionized severely at private entertainments, where 
the stateliness of his bearing and the suavity of his manners 
pleased the gentlemen and won the ladies. And this was to 
be one of the conditions of his lot thenceforward to the end 
of his life. He was the darling of the nation. Nothing had 
yet occurred to dim the luster of his fame. His giant popu- 
larity was in the flush of its youth. He could go nowhere 
without incurring an ovation, and every movement of his 
was affectionately chronicled in the newspapers. It was 
said, in after times, that the popularity of General Jackson 
could " stand any thing," The question that we shall have 
to do with is this, " Could General Jackson stand his popu- 
larity r' 



1815.] ' RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 335 

While he was enjoying the festivities of Washington, 
came rumors from the far southwest that must have had a 
peculiar interest for the conqueror of the Creeks. It was said 
that the commissioners appointed to fix the boundaries of 
that tribe, in accordance with the treaty of Fort Jackson, had 
met with formidable opposition ; that the chiefs would not 
give up their land ; that Fort Jackson had been burnt and 
its sick garrison massacred ; and that all tile southwestern 
tribes were restless and preparing to rise. A few days later 
these rumors were found to be nearly destitute of foundation, 
but not quite. The Creek chiefs deplored the loss of their be- 
loved hunting grounds ; but, except the unsubdued Seminoles 
of Florida, all acquiesced in the conditions of the treaty, hard 
though they seemed. The portion of the tribe that had taken 
refuge in Florida protested against the cession of their coun- 
try — protested to the Spanish governor — protested to English 
Woodbine, Nichols, and Arbuthnot, and, through them, to the 
Prince Eegent of England — sent chiefs and p'ophets to En- 
gland to protest — will continually protest for the next tliree 
years. It is to be hoped, for their own sakes, that they will 
content themselves with protesting. 

For General Jackson is to remain in the army ! Upon the 
conclusion of peace with Great Britain, the army was reduced 
to ten thousand men, commanded by two major generals, one 
of whom was to reside at the north and command the troops 
stationed there, and the other to bear military sway at the 
south. The generals selected for these commands were Gen- 
eral Jacob Brown for the northern division, and General An- 
drew Jackson for the southern ; both of whom had entered 
the service, at the beginning of the late war, as generals of 
militia. General Jackson's visit to Washington on this oc- 
casion was in obedience to an order, couched in the language 
of an invitation, received from the Secretary of War soon after 
his return from New Orleans ; the object of his visit being 
to arrange the posts and stations of the army. The feeling 
was general at the time that the disasters of the war of 1812 
were chiefly due to the defenseless and unprepared condition 



336 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON,' [1816. 

of the country, and that it was the first duty of the govern- 
ment, on the return of peace, to see to it that the assailable 
points were fortified. "Let us never be caught napping 
again ;" " in time of peace prepare for war," were popular 
sayings then. On these, and all other subjects connected with 
the defense of the country, the advice of Genei'al Jackson was 
asked and given. His own duty, it was evident, was, first of 
all, to pacify, and if possible satisfy, the restless and sorrow- 
ful Indians in the southwest. The vanquished tribe, it was 
agi-eed, should be dealt with forbearingly and liberally. The 
General undertook to go in person into the Indian country, 
and endeavor to remove from their minds all discontent. 

He returned home by easy stages early in 1816, but not 
to remain. In the spring he was at New Orleans, superin- 
tending the posting of the troops, and renewing old friend- 
ships. With one accord the citizens thronged about their de- 
fender, and overwhelmed him with acclamations. He held a 
grand review of the regular troops and of the city militia on 
the scene of the triumphs of 1815, a spectacle witnessed by a 
vast concourse of people. From New Orleans he journeyed 
homeward through the country of the Creeks, Cherokees, 
Chickasaws and Choctaws, holding ceremonious " talks" with 
each of those tribes, and settling their affairs on a lasting 
basis. From the Chickasaws he negociated a formal and 
final relinquishment of ten millions of acres which they claimed 
north of the Tennessee — lands that were in keen request by 
the people of western Tennessee, and beginning to be essential 
to the progress of the settlements. He thought little of the 
Chickasaw claim to this land, but, for the sake of peace and 
good will, and in consideration of the fidelity of the tribe to 
the United States, agreed to give them ten thousand dollars 
a year for ten years. To the Cherokees, who still insisted on 
their right to part of the territory wrested from the Creeks, 
he consented, for similar reasons, to give the same sum annu- 
ally for eight years. He left the Indian country with the 
impression that he had done more than justice to the tribes, 
and had restored them to good humor. 



1815.] RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 337 

To remove from the Cherokees all pretext for a non-com- 
pliance with the new treaty, he published the following order, 
which caused a famous " stampede" of squatters and " Indian 
countrymen :" " All white men settling on Cherokee lands, 
and who have not a written permit from the agent of the na- 
tion, are hereby ordered to drive oiF their stock within twenty, 
and remove themselves and families within thirty days, after 
the date of this. All individuals not attending to this noti- 
fication, and those who may be found hereafter trespassing 
on the Cherokee territory, will be prosecuted to the extent of 
the law, and their stock forfeited to the public." 

It was not until the middle of October that the General 
had completed this important business, and reached once more 
the vicinity of his home. It was considered in Tennessee that 
he had rendered a most signal service to the State in opening 
the coveted lands to the advancing tide of emigration, and in 
quieting the minds of those still powerful tribes. " This great 
and glorious termination," said a Nashville paper of the time, 
" of a business that hung over this section of the Union like a 
portentous cloud, deserves to be commemorated; and we hope 
that suitable arrangements will be made by the citizens of 
Tennessee to receive the General on his return with that eclat 
he so richly merits, and that no time will be lost in returning 
thanks to the officers of the general government for their 
prompt attention to the expressed wishes of the citizens of 
Tennessee." 

And so arose the saying in Tennessee in these years, that 
as often as General Jackson left his home he never returned 
to it without having, during his absence, performed some 
great service for the Union or for Tennessee. 

It is not possible to overstate his popularity in his own 
State. He was its pride, boast, and glory. Tennesseans felt 
a personal interest in his honor and success. His old enemies 
either sought reconciliation with him or kept their enmity to 
themselves. His rank in the array, too, gave him unequaled 
social eminence, and, to add to the other felicities of his lot, 
his fortune now rapidly increased, as the entire income of his 
VOL. 11.— 22 



338 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [181G. 

estate could be added to his capital ; the pay of a major gen- 
eral being siifScient for the support of his family. He was 
forty-nine years old in 1816. He had riches, rank, power, 
renown, and all in full measure. Our old friend "Andy" 
of a previous page has prospered in the world. ' What will 
be do in his altered circumstances ?' 

About this time it was that a change came over the spirit 
of the wild and warlike West. The few pioneer preachers of 
an earlier day had contended, with the best light given them, 
with a zeal and devotion perhaps unparalleled in tlie history 
of Christianity, against the thousand barbarizing and soul- 
darkening influences of frontier life. With rude but earnest 
speech they had gone from settlement to settlement, from 
camp-meeting to camp-meeting, proclaiming that man is a 
soul, and that his weal or his woe in this world and all worlds 
is spiritual. It is not necessary to sympathize with their 
peculiar mode of stating these immortal truths, in order to 
see and admit that they proclaimed them in the only language 
that had then and there a chance of being understood and re- 
ceived. They assisted to save civilization. They succeeded 
in leaving a general and, indelible impression everywhere, that 
the coveted things of this world are semblances and shows ; 
the invisible things of the spirit the only realities. In these 
years, after the war, the preachers became more numerous, the 
settlements larger, more populous, and closer together, and 
there was a great turning away from the exclusive pursuit of 
unsubstantial and evanescent good to that which is real and 
imperishable. 

Among those who did so was Mrs. Jackson. " Parson 
Blackburn," as she styled him in her letters, the Rev. Gideon 
Blackburn, to whom the General had written in the black days 
of the Creek war, imploring the aid of his eloquence in rais- 
ing a new army, was the preacher whom she ever fondly owned 
as her "spiritual father." The General, as she mentions in 
her correspondence, sympathized with her in her new resolves, 
and strengthened them by all the means in his power ; him- 
self, to her sorrow, holding aloof. For her gratification he 



1816.] RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 330 

built soon afterwards a little brick church on the Hermitage 
farm, which was incorporated into the presbytery, and sup- 
plied by it with a minister. This edifice, I suppose, is the 
smallest church in the United States, and the one of simplest 
construction. It looks like a New England school-house; no 
steeple, no portico, no entry or inside door. The interior, 
which contains forty pews, is unpainted, and the floor is of 
brick. It is not now used for any 2)urpose, and looks forgot- 
ten and desolate in the grove where it stands, a quarter of a 
mile from the mansion. This little church, so simple and 
rude, was all to Mrs. Jackson that a cathedral of sublimest 
proportions could have been. It was the home of her soul. 
When away from Tennessee with the General, as she often 
was, it was for this little house of brick and unpainted wood 
that she longed. When at home the General was punctual 
in his attendance at the church, and the time came, but not for 
many years yet, when he stood, leaning on his walking-stick, 
before its low, brown pulpit, trembling and penitent. 

The famous Peter Cartwright was preaching in Tennessee 
about this period. He tells us, in his wondrous autobiogra- 
phy, of his preaching in the presence of General Jackson, 
and of his subsequent interviews with the General. His 
stories are of curious interest. 

"At the Nashville Conference," he says, "an incident occurred sub- 
stantially, as well as my memory serves me, aq follovrs : The preacher in 
charge had risen from very humble beginnings, but was now a popular, 
fashionable preacher. We talk about ' Young America' these times ; but 
Young America was as distinctly to be seen in those days, among our 
young, flippant, pop-ularity-seeking preachers, as now. 

" Brother Axley and myself, though not very old, were called old-fash- 
ioned felloius; and this popular young aspirant was afraid to appoint 
Brother Axley or myself to preach at any popular hour, for fear we would 
break on slavery, dress, or dram-drinking. But at length the old staid 
members and the young preachers began to complain that Axley and Cart- 
wright were slighted, and an under-current of murmuring became pretty 
general. The city preacher had been selected to appoint the time and 
place where we were to preach. Brother Axley and myself had our own 
amusement. At lengtli, on Saturday of the Conference, this preacher an- 



340 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

nounced that Brother Axley would preach in the Methodist church on 
Sunday morning at sunrise, thinking there would be but few out, and that 
he could do but little harm at that early hour. 

" When wc adjourned on Saturday afternoon I rallied the boys to spread 
the appointment ; to rise early and get all out they could. The appoint- 
ment circulated like wildfire, and, sure enough, at sunrise the church was 
well filled. Brother Axley rose, sung, prayed, took his text : ' Be not 
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your 
minds ;' and if the Lord ever helped mortal man to preach, he surely helped 
Brother Ax^ey. First he poured the thunders of Sinai against the Egyp- 
tians, or slave oppressors ; next, he showed that no moderate dram-drinker 
could enter heaven ; and then the grape-shot of truth rolled from his mouth 
against rings, ruffles, and all kinds of ornamental dress. Dr. Bascom was 
sitting right before him. He had a gold watch-chain and key, and two 
very large gold seals. The Eev. H. B. was so excited that unconsciously 
he took up one of the seals, and he began to play with the other seal with 
his right hand. Axley saw it, stopped suddenly, and very sternly said to 
him, ' Put up that chain, and quit playing with those seals, and hear the 
word of the Lord.' The claret rushed to the surface of his profile. 

" The sermon went oflf admirably, and really it seemed as though a tor- 
nado had swept the ruffles and veils ; and the old members of the Church 
shouted for joy. Having achieved another signal victory over error and 
pride, ihe ministers and ruling elders of other sister churches had opened 
their pulpits, and invited us to preach to their people during Conference. 
Among the rest. Dr. Blackbourn had opened his church. Dr. Blackboum 
was a strong, popular Presbyterian minister. 

" In the course of the Sabbath the city preacher informed me that I 
was to preach on Monday evening in Dr. Blackbourn's church, and charged 
me to be sure and behave myself. I made him my best bow, and thanked 
him that he had given me any appointment at all ; and I assured him I 
would certainly behave myself th-e best I could. ' And now,' said I, 
' Brother Mac, it really seems providential that you have appointed me to 
preach in the doctor's church, for I expect they never heard Methodist 
doctrine fairly stated and the dogmas of Calvinism exposed ; and now, sir, 
they shall hear the truth for once.' Said the preacher, ' You must not 
preach controversy.' I replied, ' If I live to preach there at all, I'll give 
Calvinism one riddling.' ' Well,' said the preacher, ' I recall the appoint- 
ment, and will send another preacher there ; and you must preach in the 
Methodist church Monday evening, and do try and behave yourself.' 
Very well,' said I, ' I'll do my best.' 

" Tlie preachers conduct toward me was spread abroad, and excited 
considerable curiosity. Monday evening lame ; the church was filled to 
overflowing; every seat was crowded, and many had to stand. Afler 



1816] RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 341 

singing and prayer, Brother Mac took his seat in the pulpit. I then read 
my text : ' What shall it profit a oan if he gain the whole world and lose 
his own soul ?' After reading my text I paused. At that moment I saw 
General Jackson walking up the aisle ; he came to the middle post, and 
very gracefully leaned against it, and stood, as there were no vacant seats. 
Just then I felt some one pull my coat in the stand, and turning my head, 
my fastidious preacher, whispering a little loud, said, ' General Jackson has 
come in — General Jackson has come in.' I felt a flash of indignation run 
all over me like an electric shock, and facing about to my congregation, 
and purposely speaking out audibly, I said, ' Who is General Jackson ? 
If he don't get his soul converted, God will damn him as quick as he would 
a Guinea negro 1' 

" The preacher tucked his head down and squatted low, and would, no 
doubt, have been thankful for leave of absence. The congregation. Gen- 
eral Jackson and all, smiled, or laughed right out, all at the preacher's ex- 
pense. When the congregation was dismissed, my city-stationed preacher 
stepped up to me, and very sternly said to me, ' Xou are the strangest 
man I ever saw, and General Jackson will chastise you for your insolence 
before you leave the city.' ' Very clear of it,' said I, ' for General Jack- 
son. I have no doubt, will applaud my course ; and if he should undertake 
to chastise me, as Paddy said, " There is two as can play at that game." ' 

" General Jackson was staying at one of the Nashville hotels. Next 
morning, very early, my city preacher went down to the hotel to make an 
apology to General Jackson for my conduct in the pulpit the night before. 
Shortly after he bad left, I passed by the hotel, and I met the General on 
the pavement ; and before I approached him by several steps he smiled, 
and reached out his hand and said : 

" ' Mr. Cartwright, you are a man after my own heart, I am very much 
surprised at Mr. Mac, to think he would suppose that I would be offended 
at you. No, sir ; I told him that I highly approved of your independence ; 
that a minister of Jesus Christ ought to love everybody and fear no mortal 
man. I told Mr. Mac that if I had a few thousand such independent, fear- 
less officers as you were, and a well drilled army, I could take old Eng- 
land 1' 

" General Jackson was certainly a very extraordinary man. He was, 

no doubt, in his prime of hfe a very wicked man, but he always showed a 

great respect for the Christian religion, and the feelings of religious people 

^ especially ministers of the gospel I will here relate a little incident that 

shows his respect for religion. 

" I had preached one Sabbath near the Hermitage, and, in company 
with several gentlemen and ladies, went, by special invitation, to dine with 
the General Among this company there was a young sprig of a lawyer 
from Nashville, of very ordinary intellect, and he was trying hard to make 



342 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

an infidel of himself. As I was the only preacher pres<,nt, this young law- 
yer kept pushing his conversation on me, in order to get into an argument. 
I tried to evade an argument, in the first place considering it a breach of 
good manners to interrupt the social conversation of the company. In the 
second place I plainly saw that his head was much softer than his heart, 
and that there were no laurels to be won by vanquishing or demolishing 
such a combatant, and I persisted in evading an argument. This seemed 
to inspire the young man with more confidence in himself; for my eva- 
siveness he construed into fear. I saw General Jackson's eye strike fire, 
as he sat by and heard the thrusts he made at the Christian religion. At 
length the young lawyer asked me this question : 

" ' Mr. Cartwright, do you really believe there is any such place as hell, 
as a place of torment ?' 

" I answered promptly, ' Yes, I do.* 

" To which he responded, ' Well, I thank God I have too much good 
sense to believe any such thing !' 

" I was pondering in my own mind whether I would answer him or 
not, when General Jackson, for the first time, broke into the conversation, 
and directing his words lo the young man, said with great earnestness: 

" ' Well sir, I thank God that there is such a place of torment as hell 1' 

" This sudden answer, made with great earnestness, seemed to astonish 
the youngster, and he exclaimed : 

" ' Why, General Jackson, what do you want with such a place of tor- 
ment as hell ?' 

" To which the General replied, as quick as lightning, 

" ' To put such d — d rascals as you are in, that oppose and vilify the 
Christian religion.' 

" I tell you this was a poser. The young lawyer was struck dumb, and 
presently was found missing." 



Mr. Cartwriglit adds that, at a later Conference, in 1819, 
he secured the aid of General Jackson in compelling certain 
Methodist preachers to emancipate the slaves inherited by 
them, in accordance with the rules of the Methodist discipline. 
The preachers attempted to shelter themselves behind the 
laws of the State. " I," says Mr. Cartwright, " had to show 
that they could at any time emancipate their slaves by be- 
coming surety that their negroes, when emancipated, did not 
become a county charge. ^They employed a distinguished 
lawyer, F. Grundy, and I went to General Jackson for coun- 
eel. The case was fairly stated and explained in open Con- 



1816.] RETAINS HIS COMMISSION. 343 

ference, and these preachers were required to go to court and 
record a bill of enianci})ation." 

That was before the days of the "Methodist Church 
South." Mr. Cartwright found, in later years, that slavery 
was too powerful for the discipline after all, and so moved to 
Illinois. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PRESIDENT MAKING IN 1816. 

A PRESIDENT was to bc chosen to succeed Mr. Madison, 
whose second term would expire on the 4th of March, 1817. 
The federal party, as a president-electing power, was no more ; 
but, dying, had bequeathed its policy to the republicans, who 
had the weakness to accept the legacy. (For proof of which 
the reader need look no further than the messages of Messrs. 
Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, and compare 
them with the writings of Alexander Hamilton.) The re- 
publican party having gained an absolute ascendency, a nomi- 
nation by it was equivalent to an election. 

" King Caucus" was then in the plentitude of his power. 
From the days of John Adams, candidates for the presidency 
had been nominated by caucusses of members of Congress ; 
the republican members nominating a republican candidate, 
and the federal members a federal candidate — both bodies in 
caucus assembled at the city of Washington. It was a con- 
venient and not objectionable plan, so long as both the politi- 
cal parties were powerful enough to hope for success. But 
now that nomination insured election, it began to be felt that 
the virtual election of a president by a hundred members of 
Congress, sitting in secret conclave at the seat of government, 
was something not precisely in accordance with the spirit and 
intent of the Constitution. " Must a caucus at Washington 
decide for the nation ? Is the nation incompetent to decide 
for itself.^" were questions proposed by a few newspapers 



344 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

even as early as 1816. These murmurs, however, were few 
and comparatively inaudible atMhat day, and the power of 
King Caucus was not yet seriously disputed. 

For the consideration of the republican caucus of 1816 
two names only were prominent ; James Monroe, of Virgina, 
and William Harris Crawford, of Georgia. Monroe, however, 
was the predestined man. He had declined to compete with 
Mr. Madison in 1808 ; he had filled the office of Secretary of 
State during Mr. Madison's administration ; and after the 
sack of Washington he had assumed the duties of the Secre- 
tary of War, and thus shared in the glory of the closing tri- 
umplis of the late contest. He was unquestionably the choice 
of the party ; though, among the leaders of the party, there 
were many who thought meanly of his abilities.* He was 
certainly not a man of shining talents, nor had he even an 
imposing or impressive address. He was small of stature, and 
insignificant in appearance. He was prudent, plodding, gen- 
erous, patriotic ; the least splendid, the most fortunate of 
statesmen. 

Crawford, Mr. Monroe's apparent competitor (but, in re- 
ality, the candidate for the succession), was a far more able 
and shining person. By birth a Virginian, he gi-ew to man- 
hood in Georgia, where he ran the usual course of American 
statesmen. At first emerging, with difficulty, from the Old 
Field School into the Latin Academy, then getting to be as- 
sistant teacher, and, in that capacity, earning the means to 
study law, A briefless barrister next, but not briefless long. 
A successful lawyer, occasionally mounting the stump at 
election time, and showing ability thereon. Soon a member 
of the State Legislature, keenly contesting the supremacy of 

* " His best friends allow bim (Monroe) to be but of moderate capacity and 
Blow of comprehension. This, it is notorious, gives to those around him an undue 
influence over his intellectual determinations, and leads him, in a throng of busi- 
ness, to commit the most important affairs of State to incompetent hands. Ur- 
banity is not denied him ; but that, by rendering him more accessible, lays him 
Btill more open to the artifices of imposture. A man of this cast will always keep 
talent at a distance, and surround himself by comphant mediocrity and hypo- 
oritical dulhiess," — Tlie Star and North Carolina Slate Gazette, May 24, 1816. 



1816.] PRESIDENT MAKING IN 1816. 345 

that body with older and less gifted rivals. Triumphing at 
last, he becomes the foremost man of his State, and then goes 
to represent her in Congress. His career thenceforth is in his 
own hands. Senator — national orator — champion of meas- 
ures which, succeeding, elevate their advocates — embassador 
— cabinet minister — and, finally, candidate for the Presi- 
dency. That was the old course from the log cabin to the 
White House. In 1816 William Harris Crawford, then but 
forty-four years of age, had gone within one stage of the end 
of this honorable journey, and seemed to be going inevitably 
toward the pleasantly situated mansion on the banks of the 
Potomac prepared for such as arrive. 

He was a man of almost gigantic proportions, and, though 
not graceful, the general effect of his presence was imposing 
in the extreme. Napoleon remarked it when Mr. Crawford 
was embassador at the imperial court, and complimented the 
Americans present upon the grand air of their representative. 
Mr. Crawford was a champion of that United States Bank 
which was chartered in 1816 for twenty years, and was, per- 
haps, more influential than any other Republican in bringing 
over the party to the support of that institution. When the 
bank was chartered, it was conceded to be a Crawford tri- 
umph, and he stood at the highest point of his career. His 
position, in fact, was then so commanding and advantageous 
that his not reaching the Presidency proves either that he dis- 
dained intrigue or was an unskillful intriguer. 

He was assuredly not formed for a " politician." Consider 
this picture of the great, lumbering, honest Crawford, as usher 
of Dr. Waddell's academy ; " It was determined by himself 
and some few of the elder school boys to enliven their annual 
public examination by representing a play. They selected 
Addison's Cato ; and in forming the cast of characters that 
of the Roman senator was, of course, assigned to the worthy 
usher. Crawford was a man of extraordinary height and large 
limbs, and was always ungraceful and awkward, besides being 
constitutionally unfitted, in every way, to act any character 
but his own. He, however, cheerfully consented to play Cato. 



346 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

It was matter of great sport, even during rehearsal, as his 
young companions beheld the huge, ungainly usher, with giant 
strides and stentorian voice, go through with the representa- 
tion of the stern, precise old Roman. But on the night of 
the grand exhibition an incident, eminently characteristic of 
the counterfeit Cato, occurred, which effectually broke up the 
denouement of the tragedy. Crawford had conducted the 
senate scene with tolerable success, though rather boisterously 
for so solemn an occasion, and had even managed to struggle 
through with the apostrophe to the soul ; but when the dying 
scene behind the curtain came to be acted, Cato's groan of 
agony was bellowed out with such hearty good earnest as to- 
tally to scare away the tragic muse, and set prompter, play- 
ers and audience in a general, unrestrained fit of laughter. 
This was, we beheve, the future statesman's first and last 
theatrical attempt."* 

No ; it was not his last. He will figure in another scene 
by and by which was eminently theatrical. But the anecdote 
seems to indicate a man of honest nature, little available for 
the purposes of the politician by profession. 

There is a remarkable passage in Dr. Jabez Hammond's 
Political History of New York relating to the nomination of 
Mr. Monroe, which is a valuable contribution to the Presi- 
dent-making science. Dr. Hammond was a Republican mem- 
ber of Congress at the time, and acquainted with the various 
schemes. Desirous to unfold to every reader " the way these 
things are done," I insert the passage here : 

" Immediately after the peace was concluded, Mr. Madison began to 
give tokens that Mr. Monroe was to be the executive candidate. Whether 
an understanding existed at the time of the election of Mr. Madison that 
Mr. Monroe, who at first exhibited some symptoms of oppugnation, should 
be his successor, or whether he was operated upon by the pressure of his 
Virginia friends, or from personal friendship, and from an opinion that Mr. 
Monroe was really the fittest and most suitable man, or whatever the cause 
may have been, it is certain that when danger from a forei^ai enemy and 
domestic disturbance disappeared, Mr. Madison, contrary to his intentions 

* Leisure Labors, by Joseph B. Cobb, p. 135. 



1816.] PRESIDENT MAKING IN 1816. 347 

■when he tendered to Mr. Tompkins the office of Secretary of State, did 
abandon his claims and sustain those of Mr. Monroe. 

" As soon as it was known in New York that Mr. Monroe was the 
executive candidate for the succession, a small party was got up who 
favored his (Tompkins') pretensions, and among them were men who had 
been the confidential friends of Governor Tomplcins, and had participated 
largely in the bounties he had distributed. 

" There are good leasons to believe that the national administration, 
under the control of the Virginia dynasty, had for a long time entertained 
some jealousy of the leading and most influential Republicans in the State 
of New York. The great and rapidly increasing numerical weight of this 
State might have increased that jealousy. Hence the policy at Washington 
was to prevent any one man from getting, or rather from retaining, an as- 
cendency with the Republican party in the State. Hence we find that the 
minor sectioia of that party were always the special favorites of the admin- 
istration, from the time of the existence of the Burr faction down to the 
period of which I am writing. Accordingly, William P. Van Ness, the 
second of Burr in the duel with Hamilton, the avowed author of Aristides, 
and the uncompromising enemy of De Witt Clinton, was made a judge of 
the United States court 

"At this time the selection of the Presidential candidate was made by 
a caucus of Republican members of Congress. This was then the common 
law of the Democratic party. The fourteenth Congress convened on the 
first Monday in December. As I happened to be a member of that Con- 
gress I can speak with some confidence in relation to the maneuveringa 
which occurred prior to the Congressional caucus. When the members 
from this State arrived in Wasliington, it was found that nearly if not 
quite all the Republicans were for Governor Tompkins, if it should be found 
that there was a reasonable prospect of procuring his nomination ; but it 
was soon ascertained .that it could not be effected. The New England 
States were all represented by Federalists, with the exception of three 
Republican members from that part of Massachusetts which now consti- 
tutes the State of Maine. The majority of the Republican members were 
from the South, and these were all opposed to the nomination of Tompkins. 
Their ostensible objection was, that he had never been in the service of the 
nation, and therefore their constituents knew httle or nothing of him. It 
was in vain that we urged his merits as Governor of New York during the 
late war. " I have no doubt," said a member from North Carolina to me, 
** that Mr. Tompkins is a good governor. We also have a good governor 
in North Carolina, but we do not, on that account, expect you to support 
him for the office of President." It was difficult to answer this objection, 
although the only reason why Governor Tompkins had not been in the 
service of the nation was his refusal to accept the office of Secretary of 



348 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

State, solely for the reason that he could render more service to the nation 
as Governor than he could as Secretary of State. 

" I regret to say that those who manifested an inclination to support, 
in caucus, Governor Tompkins, may be designated by geographical hnes. 
His friends were to be found in New York, New Jersey, some in Pennsyl- 
vania, some in Kentucky, some in Ohio, and some in Maryland ; but not a 
single supporter of Tompkins could be found south of the Potomac. . . . 
It soon became evident that Tompkins could not be nominated; but, before 
this was ascertained, at any rate by those of us who were strangers, a 
meeting was held by the Ncav York delegation, to ascertain each others' 
views and to endeavor to agree on ulterior measures. 

" My object, and, I beheve, the object of a majority of the delegates, 
was, in case we should become satisfied that the project of nominating 
Governor Tompkins was hopeless, then to endeavor to procure as nearly an 
united vote of the State as possible for William H. Crawford, at that time 
Secretary of War. 

" The old members, as, for instance, General Porter, John W. Taylor, 
and Mr. Irving, of New York, were extremely wary and cautious. It was 
Boon ascertained that few of us had hopes of succeeding with Tompkins, 
and General Porter made some suggestions respecting the chance of suc- 
cess by holding him up as a candidate in opposition to the caucus nomina- 
tion ; and, although neither he nor any one else entertained any serious 
view of taking such a course, he appeared desirous to direct the attention 
of tlie delegates from the true question, which was, in case Tompkins was 
given up, between Crawford and Monroe. Some one finally observed that 
the latter was tlie important, and in reality, the only question to be decided. 
The meeting was, notwithstanding, as appeared to me, much by means of 
the influence of General Porter, John W. Taylor, and Enos T. Throop, 
broken up without any expression of opinion as between Monroe and 
Crawford. I knew, and those gentlemen at the tim^ kne'NV', that more than 
four to one of the delegates were for Crawford. Mr. Porter, although the 
fact was not then generally known, was in favor of Monroe, and he was 
unwilling that it should be at that juncture publicly known how large a 
majority of the New York delegation was for Crawford, being apprehensive 
of its effects upon the members of Congress from the other States. General 
Porter was not long after appointed commissioner, under the British treaty, 
to run the boundary line between the United States and the province of 
Canada. 

" William H. Crawford was a self-made man. He .was possessed of a 
vigorous intellect, strictly honest and honorable in his political conduct, 
Bternly independent, and of great decision of character. On the other hand, 
b/Lt. Monroe, though he had been long in pubhc life, a considerable part of 
which consisted in the execution of diplomatic agencies, was, speaking of 



1816,] PRESIDENT MAKING IN 1816. 349 

him as a candidate for the presidency, not distinguished for vigor of intel- 
lect, or for decision of character, independence of action, or indeed for any 
extraordinary public services. He made no pretensions to distinction as a 
■writer, or eloquence as a public speaker. He seems to have owed his suc- 
cess in life to great caution, prudence, and deliberation in every thing which 
he said or did. 

" With these views of the merits of Mr. Monroe and Mr. Crawford, in 
connection with the fact that the chief magistracy of the nation had been 
so long held by citizens of Virginia, and considering Governor Tompkins 
out of the question, a large majority of the New York delegation was rather 
ardent- in support of Mr. Crawford. Governor Tompkins thought unkindly 
of their course. He thought they had too readily consented to give him 
up, although it was well known that Judge Spencer, whose opinion at that 
time had great influence with the members, decidedly preferred Crawford 
to Tompkins; yet, had there been the least prospect of his nomination, I 
have no doubt they would, in good faith, have supported him to the last, 
Mr. Clinton was for Mr. Monroe. Tliis fad I know: Mr. Van Buren took 
no decided part in the matter. In connection with the New York delega- 
tion, the members from New Jersey, part of the Pensylvania delegation, 
Colonel Connor, from Massachusetts, part of the membere from Ohio, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee, and North Carolina, and the whole of the Georgia 
delegation, were for Mr. Crawford. When Congress first assembled, as 
between Crawford and Monroe, I have not a particle of doubt that a ma- 
jority of the Republican members were for the former. But the caucus 
was put off from time to time, until the session was considerably advanced, 
and such was the influence of the administration on its own friends, or from 
other causes unknown to me, when the grand caucus was held Mr. Craw- 
ford received fifty-four votes, and Mr. Monroe sixty-five, who was there- 
fore nominated for President. Governor Tompkins was nominated for 
Vice-President. Of the members from New York, I believe that Messrs, 
Irving, Throop, and Birdseye, were the only ones who voted for Monroe." 

This result, it is said, was chiefly due to Mr. Crawford's 
voluntary postponement of his claims. In effect, he declined 
the nomination in favor of Mr, Monroe, and this procedure, 
together with the show of strength made by his adherents in 
the caucus, was supposed to place him before all others in the 
line of the succession. If King Caucus remains in power, 
Mr. Crawford is to be elected president in 1824. For eight 
years we leave him comfortably disposed in the office of Sec- 



350 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

retary of the Treasury, to which Mr. Madison appointed him, 
and in which Mr. Monroe retained him. 

To return to General Jackson. To him, as to all men 
who achieve a great success, it happened that others sought 
to use his success for the furtherance of their own ends. That 
boundless, new-born popularity of his was something that 
could be used for a variety of purposes ; but by no class of 
men with better promise of effect than those. president-makers 
who were rebels against King Caucus. It early engaged their 
attention. They had their eyes upon it before General Jack- 
son had been a month home from New Orleans. Nay, at 
New Orleans, Edward Livingston had already spoken on the 
subject to the General himself; but finding him disposed to 
consider the proposition as simply ridiculous, had not pressed 
it — had laid it away for future use. 

As early as August, 1815, the anti-caucus men, I find, 
had an emissary abroad feeling the political pulse of the west- 
ern country. General John Adair, of Kentucky, August 20, 
1815, wrote to his friend. Colonel Anderson, as follows : " I 
lately had a. visit from a very intelligent gentleman from the 
northeast ; and although he managed somewhat in the Yan- 
kee style, I have no doubt his object was to find out whether 
General Jackson would be supported in the west, if brought 
forward as a candidate for the presidency. I gave it as my 
opinion that he would be supported in Louisiana and Tennes- 
see, and in Kentucky, by a little exertion, he would get all the 
votes but two ; and that I was not certain they would be 
against him, (I mean the districts represented by Mr. Clay 
and Colonel Johnson.) He assured me there was a strong 
disposition in many of the northeastern States to run him if 
they could be assured he would be supported in the West. 
He was extremely anxious that I should go to the federal city 
this winter as a member, if possible ; but if that can not be, 
he wished me to spend the month of January there as a pri- 
vate gentleman. I would write to the General on the sub- 
ject, but am induced to beheve (from questions that have 
been asked me by different gentlemen from Tennessee) that 



1816.] PRESIDENT MAKING IN 1816, 351 

the General has from some cause, some misrepresentation of 
my conduct, become offended with me," * 

W ho was this very intelligent gentleman from the north- 
east ? Possibly, Aaron Burr could have obliged us with his 
name. 

In November, 1815, Colonel Burr wrote to his son-in-law, 
Governor Joseph Alston, of South Carolina, the following 
epistle : 

"New York, November 20, 1815, 

"A congressional caucus will, in the course of the ensuing month, 
nominate James Monroe for President of the United States, and will call 
on all good Kepublicans to support the nomination. 

"Whether we consider the measure itself, the character and talents of 
the man, or the State whence he comes, this nomination is equally excep- 
tionable and odious. 

'■ I have often heard your opinion of these Congressional nominations. 
They are hostile to all freedom and independence of suffrage. A certain 
junto of actual and factitious Virginians, having had possession of the gov- 
ernment for twenty-four years, consider the United States as their property, 
and, by bawling ' support the Administration,' have so long succeeded in 
duping the Republican pubUc. One of their principal arts, and which has 
been systematically taught by Jefferson, is that of promoting State dissen- 
sions, not between Repubhcan and Federal — that would do them no good 
— but schisms in the Republican party. By looking round you will 
see how the attention of leading men in the different States has been 
turned from general and State pohtics. Let not this disgraceful'domination 
continue. 

" Independently of the manner of the nomination and the location ot 
the candidate, the man himself is one of the most improper and incompe- 
tent that could be selected. Naturally dull and stupid ; extremely illiterate ; 
indecisive to a degree that would be incredible to one who did not know 
him ; pusillanimous, and, of course, hypocritical ; has no opinion on any 
subject, and will be always under the government of the worst men ; pre- 
tends, as I am told, to some knowledge of miUtary matters, but never com- 
manded a platoon, nor was ever fit to command one. ' He served in the 
Revolutionary War f that is, he acted a short time as aid-de-camp to Lord 
Stirling, who was regularly .... Monroe's whole duty was to fill 
his lordship's tankard, and hear, with indications of admiration, his lord- 
ship's long stories about himself. Such is Mom-oe's military experience. I 
was with my regiment at the time. As a lawyer, Monroe was far belo'o'' 

* Kentucky Reporter, October, 1817. 



352 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

mediocrity. He never rose to the honor of trying a cause of the value of 
a hundred pounds. This is a character exactly suited to the views of the 
Virginian junto. 

"To this junto you have twice sacrificed yourself, and what have 
you got by it? Their hatred and abhorrence. Did you ever know 
them to countenance a man of talents and independence? Never, nor 
ever will. 

" It is time that you manifested that you had some individual character, 
some opinion of your own. some influence to support that opinion. Mako 
them fear you, and they will be at your feet. Thus far they have reasou 
to believe that you fear them. 

" The moment is extremely auspicious for breaking down this degrad- 
ing system. The best citizens of our country acknowledge the feebleness 
of our administration. They acknowledge that offices are bestowed merely 
to preserve power, and without the smallest regard to fitness. If, then, 
there be a man in the United States of firmness and decision, and having 
standing enough to afford even a hope of success, it is your duty to hold 
him up to public view : that man is Andrew Jackson. Nothing is wanting 
but a respectable nomination, made before the proclamation of the Virginia 
caucus, and Jackson's success is inevitable. 

" If this project should accord with your views, I could wish to see you 
prominent in the execution of it. It must be known to be your work. 
Whether a formal and open nomination should now be made, or whether 
you should, for the present, content yourself with barely denouncing, by a 
joint resolution of both houses of your Legislature, congressional caucuses 
and nominations, you only can judge. One consideration inclines me to 
hesitate about the policy of a present nomination. It is this, that Jackson 
ought first to be admonished to be passive ; for the moment he shall be 
announced as a candidate he will be assailed by the Virginia junto with 
menaces, and with insidious promises of boons and favors. Tliere is a danger 
that Jackson might be wrought upon by such practices. If an open nomina- 
tion be made, an express should be instantly sent to him. 

" This suggestion has not arisen from any exclusive attachment to Jaclv- 
son. The object is to break down this vile combination which rules and 
degrades the United States. If you should think that any other man could 
be held up with better prospect of success, name that man. I know of no 
Buch. But the business must be accomplished, and on this occasion, and 
by you. So long as the present system prevails, you will be struggling 
against wind and tide to preserve a precarious influence. You will never 
be forgiven for the crime of having talents and independence. 

" Exhibit yourself, then, and emerge from this state of nullity. You 
owe it to yourself, you owe it to me, you owe it to your country, you owe 
it to the memory of the dead. 



1816.] PRESIDENT- MAKING IN 1816. 353 

" I have talked of this matter to your late secretary, but he has not 
seen this letter. 

" A. Burr. 

" P. S. — Your secretary was to have delivered this personally, but 
has changed his course on hearing that Jackson is on his yvaj to Washing- 
ton. If you should have any confidential friend among the members of 
Congress from your State, charge him to caution Jackson against the per- 
fidious caresses vs^ith which he will be overwhelmed at Washington. 

" A. B." 

Afterwards : — 

" New York, December 11, 1815. 

"A copy of the preceding went under cover to Dr. Wragg. Since 
that date things are wonderfully advanced, as your secretary will write or 
tell you. These will require a written message (letter) from yourself and 
others, (or yourself alone, but three names would look more formal,) ad- 
vising Jackson what is doing ; that communications have been had with 
the northern States, requiring him only to be passive, and asking him for 
a list of persons in the western States to whom you may address your 
letters. 

"A. Burr."* 

A precious, pregnant letter ! I advise the reader who de- 
sires to understand the whole art of president-making to turn 
back and deliberately read it a second time, dwelling partic- 
ularly upon the closing postscript. Comment is needless. 

This letter reached Governor Alston when he was a sick, 
heart-broken man, still inconsolable for the loss of his son 
and the tragic fate of his wife, Theodosia, " I fully coincide 
with you in sentiment," he wrote in reply to Colonel Burr, 
"but the spirit, the energy, the health necessary to give prac- 
tical effect to sentiment, are all gone. I feel too much alone, 
too entirely unconnected with the world, to take much inter- 
est in anything. Yet, without the smallest solicitude about 
the result, I shall certainly not fail to discharge my public 
duty, whenever the opportunity occurs, by giving a very 
strong and frank expression of my opinion on the subject 
suggested," 

* Memoirs of Aaron Burr, by M. L. Davis, vol. ii., p. 433. 
VOL. II. — 23 



354 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [181G. 

Governor Alston died soon after, and the letter of Colonel 
Burr was found among his papers. 

I am enabled to state with positiveness that this letter 
had no effect in causing the subsequent nomination of Gen- 
eral Jackson for the presidency. The men who were chiefly 
instrumental in jjrocuring that nomination w^ere not awaro 
of the existence of the letter till after the election of Greneral 
Jackson, when it was handed about Washington. It is true, 
the programme so adroitly sketched by Burr was exactly 
can-ied out ; but it was not owing to Burr's suggestion. No 
other programme was possible. The objects to be attained 
were to break up the line of succession, and, as a means to 
that end, to dethrone King Caucus. Meanwhile, Mr. Monroe 
was elected President ; Mr. Crawford was in preserve for the 
succession ; the project of bringing out the hero of New 
Orleans, like a seed in the dark and silent soil, was germi- 
nating. 

General Jackson long made light of these covert schemes, 
regarding the suggestion of his name for the presidency merely 
in the light of a bad joke. As late as 1821 he still so regarded 
it, or appeared to do so. Judge Brackenridge, the General's 
Florida secretary and translator, has this passage in one of 
his letters : "I shall never forget the evening (in Pensacola, 
1821) when, in presence of Mr. Henry Wilson and some other 
gentlemen, he took up a New York newspaper, in which he 
was mentioned as a probable candidate for the office of Presi- 
dent of the United States. After reading it he threw it down 
in anger : ' Do they think,' said he, ' that I am such a d — d 
fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States ? 
No, sir ; 1 know what I am fit for. I can command a body 
of men in a rough way ; but I am not fit to be President.' 
We were silent, but all gave him credit, as I afterwards found, 
for this proof of good sense. He had resolved to retire from 
public life, and pass the remainder of his days in peace and 
quiet on his farm."* 

* Letters of H. M. Brackenridge, page 8. 



1816.J GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 355 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAMES MONROE. 

The good feeling existing between General Jackson and 
Mr. Monroe ripened into a warm and intimate friendship 
during the General's visit to Washington, in the fall of the 
year 1815. Mr. Monroe's subsequent election to the presi- 
dency was an event gratifying to General Jackson for all rea- 
sons. One reason was that he hated Crawford. Indeed 
the word hated is mild to express the boiling fury of the 
General's wrath against the huge Georgian. The origin 
of the feud, as related to me by one who was cognizant 
of the facts at the time of their occurrence, shall be briefly 
recounted. 

Next to his defense of New Orleans, General Jackson 
valued himself most upon his Indian conquests and his In- 
dian policy. He comprehended perfectly that his conquest 
of the Creeks was that which had alone rendered the defense 
of New Orleans possible. He understood, to its full extent, 
the importance to the United States of having a clear, broad 
pathway of white man's land, from the settlements of West- 
ern Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico. He had secured this 
by the treaty of Fort Jackson, and he regarded it as the most^ 
valuable result of his Indian campaigns. Intent on the at- 
tainment of this grand object, he had turned a deaf ear to 
suppliant Creeks, to scheming Cherokees, and swept the 
highway to the Gulf free from every Indian claim. The 
Cherokees acquiesced most reluctantly, and, when the war of 
1812 was over, sent a deputation to Washington, to endeavor 
to obtain from the President what General Jackson had re- 
fused — the acknowledgment of their claim to part of the 
Creek lands. 

The Cherokee chiefs, it chanced, arrived at Washington 
during General Jackson's visit. He guessed their object 
To Mr. Crawford, then the Secretary of War, he explained 



,"56 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [181G. 

the business from the beginning, and urged him to refuse 
nompliance Avith their demands point blank. He left the 
secretary with the impression that he had secured his object, 
and that his work in the southwest would not be undone. 
Mr. Crawford, however, upon hearing the case of the Chero- 
kees, as presented by themselves, thought their claim just, and 
allowed it. So that General Jackson, on meeting them in 
the following summer, found that he was under the necessity 
of again negotiating for the ceded lands, and of buying back 
what he had supposed to be already the property of the 
United States. His disgust was extreme. He felt himself 
Immiliated in the eyes of the Indians. He considered his 
conquests, in part, annulled, and his rightful command inter- 
fered with. Time softened his animosity, but, during these 
years, there was no public man whom he held in such aver- 
sion as William H. Crawford, of Georgia. And this aversion 
had its effect upon the course of events. 

With the President-elect, however. General Jackson was 
entirely satisfied. He well knew that from James Monroe he 
need fear no thwarting of his plans as commander of the 
southern division ; Mr. Monroe being one of those gentlemen 
who are clay in the hands of such a potter as Andrew Jackson. 

We have now to present the famous correspondence that 
passed between these two eminent men in 1816 and 1817 — a 
correspondence that had much to do with the election of 
General Jackson to the presidency. Made public at a critical 
moment in 1824, the moderation and patriotic wisdom of 
General Jackson's letters offered a pleasant contrast to other 
letters of his that had reached the public eye, and won over 
to his support a large number of the Federalists. The spec- 
tacle exhibited of the first civilian of the nation holding dis- 
course with its first soldier, upon subjects of high import, both 
of them animated, as it seemed, by a heartfelt interest in the 
nation's good, was one most pleasing to the public of that 
day. No reader must overlook these letters. Our General 
appears to fine advantage in them. They show him in equi- 
librium, unbiased by prejudice or passion. They show us 



1816.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 357 

"what kind of a president he would have made, if it were as 
easy to govern as it is to write pleasant sentences upon the 
art of governing. 

The reader has had specimens enough of General Jack- 
son's composition to know that these letters, as they will be 
given here, could not have been written by Greneral Jackson's 
hand. For the information of the carious it may be men- 
tioned that the letters, before being dispatched, were " copied" 
by the General's friend. Major W. B. Lewis, of Nashville, in 
whose handwriting the principal letter was sent to its desti- 
nation. The residence of Major Lewis, it may be convenient 
to have the reader know, was, and is, on the road leading 
from Nashville to the Hermitage, about two miles from the 
town. For many a year the General seldom passed it with- 
out stopping. Many a rough draft of document and letter 
was there reduced to a form and style presentable to fastidious 
eyes. 

But to the correspondence. A few days after General 
Jackson's return from the Indian country, in the autumn of 
1816, he wrote the following letter to Mr. Monroe, the Presi- 
dent-elect : 

GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 

" Headquarters, Division op the South, ) 
"Nashville, 23d October, 1816. i 

" Dear Sir : — I returned from the Nation on the 12th instant, and seize 
the first moment from duty to write to you. 

" I have the pleasure to inform you that we have obtained, by cession, 
from the Cherokees and Chickasaws, all their claim south of Tennessee that 
interfered with the Creek cession. 

" We have experienced much difficulty with the Chickasaws, from 
what they call their guarantee or charter, given by President Washington 
in the year 1794, and recognized by the treaty with that nation in 1801, 
which not only guaranteed the territory but bound the United States to 
prevent intrusions within the limits defined, of every kind whatever. In 
the treaty with the Cherokees. lately entered into at the city of Washing- 
ton, the greater part of the land guaranteed by the treaty of 1801 to the 
Chickasaws was included. The fact is that both President Washington 
and the present Secretary of War (Crawford) must have been imposed on 



358 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

by false representations, as neither the Cherokees nor the Chickasaws had 
any right to the territory south of the Tennessee, and included within the 
Creek cession, as the testimony recorded on your journal and forwarded 
with tlie treaty will show ; it being within the possession of the Creeks, 
until conquered by us in the fall of 1813. I feel happy that all these con- 
flicting claims are accommodated by the late treaties, and at a moderate pre- 
mium, payable in ten years ; and that extensive fertile country west of the 
county of Madison and north of the Tennessee, which at once opens a free 
intercourse to and defense, for the lower country, is acquired. 

"In a political point of view its benefits are incalculable. We will now 
have good roads kept up and supplied by the industry of ourown citizens, 
and our frontier defended by a strong population. The sooner, therefore, 
that this country can be brought into market the better. By dividing this 
country into two districts, by a line drawn due east from the mouth of the 
Black Warrior to the Coosa river, and appointing an enterprising indivi- 
dual to superintend the northern district as surveyor, he can have all the 
lands north of the line ready for sale by the 1st of June next. The vast 
capital now held for the purchase of this land, if offered for sale before the 
holders turn it to other objects, will insure the treasury an immense sum 
of money, and give to the government a permanent population, capable of 
d^ifending that frontier, which ought to induce the government to prepare 
it for market as early as possible. 

" Having learned from General David Merriweather that Mr, Crawford 
is about to retire from the Department of War, I am induced, as a friend to 
you and the government, to bring to your notice, as a fit character to fill 
that office. Colonel William H. Drayton, late of the army of the United 
States. 

'' I am not personally acquainted with Colonel D., but, believing it of 
the utmost importance that the office of Secretary of War should be well 
filled, I have for some time, through every source that has presented itself, 
been making inquiry on that subject. From information that I can rely 
on, the result is, that he is a man of nice principles of honor and honesty, 
of military experience and pride, possessing handsome talents as a lawyer 
and statesman. 

" I am told before the war he was ranked with the Federalists, but the 
moment his country was threatened he abandoned private ease and a lucra- 
tive practice for the tented field. Such acts as these speak louder than w?rds. 
" The tree is best known by its fruits," and such a man as this, it matters 
not what he is called, will always act hke a true American. Whether he 
would accept the appointment I can not say ; but if he would, his talents, 
experience and energy would prove highly useful to his country. It is all- 
important in peace and in war, as you well know, to have this office well 
filled ; at present when there exists such strife in the army as appears in 



I 



1816.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 359 

the north, it is important to select a charact:er of such firmness and energy 
us can not be swayed from strict rule and justice. From every information 
I have received, Colonel Drayton fills this character, and is better qualified 
to execute the duties of the Department of War than any other character 
1 have a knowledge of, either personally or from information. 

" I write you confidentially. It is said here is spoken 

of to succeed Mr. Crawford. Rest assured this will not do. When I say 
this I wish you to understand me, that he does not possess sufficient capa- 
city, stability, or energy — the three necessary qualifications for a war officer. 
Th'ese hints proceed from the purest motives, that you may be supported 
in your administration by the best talents and virtue of our country ; that 
you may be hailed in your retirement from the executive chair with that 
unanimous approbation that has brought you to it. 

" Present Mrs. J. and myself respectfully to your lady and family, in 
which is included Mrs. Hay, and accept for yourself my warmest wishes 
for yo^ir happiness. 

"Andrew Jackson. 
" Hon. James Monroe, 

"Secretary of State." 

Twenty days after writing this letter, and before an an- 
swer could have been expected, General Jackson wrote again 
to the President elect. The reader will not be sorry to learn 
from this second letter that General Coffee was to be pro- 
vided for : — 

GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 

"[Private.] Nashville, November 12, 1816. 

'* Sir : Permit me to introduce to your notice Lieutenant Gradsden, who 
will hand you this letter, and who is also bearer of the treaties lately con- 
cluded with the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Cherokees. 

" In my last to you I took the liberty of drawing your attention to the 
benefits that would result, both to the treasury of the United States and 
the defense of the Lower Mississippi and its dependencies, by bringing into 
marke; tliose tracts of countiy lately acquired by the treaties above named. 
I am so deeply impressed with the importance of this subject, that I can- 
not forego the present opportunity of again bringing it to your view. I 
have this moment wrote to the comptroller on this highly interesting and 
important business. If the plan proposed is adopted, the land can be brought 
into market within a very short time, which will immediately give to that 
section of country a strong and permanent settlement of American citizens, 
competent to its defense. Should the government divide the surveyor's 



360 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

district, as proposed, and appoint General Coffee surveyor of the northern, 
his energy and industry will bring it into market in all June next. Should 
the district be divided as contemplated, and General Coffee appointed as 
surveyor, it will leave open the appointment of receiver of public moneys, 
heretofore promised to the general, which vacancy I warmly recommend 
to be filled by Lieutenant Gadsden, who, owing to the late, indeed I might 
say present, delicate state of his health, is desirous of resigning his appoint- 
ment in the army. In this, as in all my recommendations, I have the pub- 
lic good in view. 

" From the acquirements of Lieutenant Gadsden the army will sustain 
a great loss by the withdrawal of his services from it; but by retiring at 
present, and avoiding the insalubrious climate where his duty as an officer 
calls him, his health may be restored and his life preserved for the benefit 
of his country at some future period. There are few young men in the 
army or elsewhere possessing his merit. His education is of the best kind, 
and his mind is richly stored with the best kind of knowledge ; he should 
therefore be fostered as capable, at some future day, of becoming one of his 
country's most useful and valuable citizens. Lieutenant Gadsden's situa- 
tion requires some office, the profits of which will yield him a competency 
while preparing himself for some professional pursuit; this office will afford 
it. These are the reasons that induce me so warmly to recommend him. 
I hope, should the events alluded to occur, he will receive the appointment. 

"Being deeply impressed with the importance of another subject which 
relates to yourself, as well as to the government, I hope I may be permitted 
once more to obtrude my opinions. In filling the vacancy occasioned by 
the transfer of Mr. Crawford from the war office to the treasury, it is of the 
highest moment that some proper and fit person should be selected. 

" Your happiness and the nation's welfare materially depend upon the 
selections which are to be made to fill the heads of departments. I need 
not tell you that feuds exist, and have existed, to an injurious degree in the 
northern army. To fill the department of war with a character who has 
taken a part in those feuds, or whose feelings have been enlisted on the 
side of party, will be adding fuel to a flame which, for the good of the ser- 
vice, already burns too fiercely. This and other considerations induced me 
to enter on the inquiry for a character best qualified to fill that department 
— ^it has resulted in the selection of Colonel William Drayton. Since my 
last to you, in which this subject was then named. General Ripley has ar- 
rived here, who heartily concurs with me in the opinion that Colonel Dray- 
ton is the best selection that can be made. 

" Pardon me, my dear sir, for the following remarks conceining the 
next presidential term ; they are made with the sincerity and freedom of a 
friend. I can not doubt they wUl be received with feelings similar to those 
which have impelled me to make them. Every thing depends on the se- 



1816.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 361 

lection of your ministry. In every selection party and party feeling should 
be avoided. Now is the time to exterminate the monster called party spirit. 
By selecting characters most conspicuous for their probity, virtue, capacity 
and firmness, without any regard to party, you will go far to, if net en- 
tirely, eradicate those feelings which, on former occasions, threw so many 
obstacles in the way of goverment ; and perhaps have the pleasure and 
honor of uniting a people heretofore politically divided. The chief magis- 
trate of a great and powerful nation should never indulge in party feelings. 
His conduct should be liberal and disinterested, always bearing in mind 
that he acts for the whole and not a part of the community. By this course 
you will exalt the national character, and acquire for yourself a name as 
imperishable as monumental marble. Consult no party in your choice ; 
pursue the dictates of that unerring judgment which has so long and so 
often benefitted our country and rendered conspicuous its rulers. These 
are the sentiments of a friend. They «,re the feelings — if I know my own 
heart — of an undissembled patriot. 

" Accept assurances of my sincere friendship, and believe me to be your 
obedient servant, 

"Andrew Jackson. 
" The Hon. James Monroe." 

Mr. Monroe was prompt in replying to these epistles. 
His reply will remind the reader of some noted and contro- 
verted passages in Mr. Jefferson's Anas. It may be regarded 
either as confirming Mr. Jefferson's statements respecting the 
designs of the early Federalists, or merely as showing to what 
an extent the pupil had caught the prejudices of his master. 

MR. MONROE TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

" Washington, Dec. 14th, 1816. 
" Dear Sir : I have, since my last to you, had the pleasure of receiving 
two letters from you, the last of the 12th November. The advantages of 
the late treaties with the Indians are incalculable. One of the benefits 
consists in putting an end to all dissatisfaction on the part of Tennessee, 
proceeding from the former treaty. This has been done on very moderate 
terms. Another consists in enabling the government to bring to market a 
large body of valuable land, whereby the public debt may be considerably 
diminished. A third, in extending our settlements along the Mississippi 
and towards the Mobile, whereby great strength will be added to our union 
in quarters where it is most wanted. As soon as our population gams a 
decided preponderance in those regions. East Florida will hardly be ecu- 



362 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

■ 

sidered by Spain as part of her dominions, and no other power would 
accept it from her as a gift. Our attitude will daily become more 
imposing on all the Spanish dominions, and indeed on those of othei 
Dowers in the neighboring islands. If it keeps them in good order, 
in our relations with them, that alone will be an important conse- 
quence. 

" I have communicated what you suggested respecting General Coffee 
and Lieutenant Gadsden to the President, who is, I am satisfied, well dis- 
posed to promote their views. 

•' It is very gratifying to me to receive your opinions on all subjects on 
which you will have the goodness to communicate them, because I have 
the utmost confidence in the soundness of your judgment and 'purity of 
your intentions. I will give you my sentiments on the interesting subject 
in question, likewise, without reserve. I agree with you decidedly in the 
principle that the chief magistrate of* the country ought not to be the head 
of a party, but of the nation itself I am also of opinion that the members 
of the Federal party who left it in the late war, and gallantly served their 
country in the field, have given proofs of patriotism and attachment to free 
government that entitle them to the highest confidence. In deciding, 
however, how a new administration ought to be formed, admitting the re- 
sult to correspond with the wishes of my friends, many considerations claim 
attention ; as, on a proper estimate of them, much may depend in the suc- 
cess of that administration, and even of the Republican cause. We have 
heretofore been divided into two great parties. That some of the leaders 
of the Federal party entertained principles unfriendly to our system of gov- 
ernment I have been thoroughly convinced ; and that they meant to work 
a change in it, by taking advantage of favorable circumstances, I am equally 
satisfied. It happened that I was a member of Congress under the con- 
federation, just before the change made by the adoption of the present Con- 
stitution ; and afterwards of the Senate, beginning shortly after its adop- 
tion. In the former I served three years, and in the latter rather a longer 
term. In these stations I saw indications of the kind suggested. It was 
an epoch at which the views of men were most likely to unfold themselves, 
as, if anything favorable to a higher-toned government was to be obtained, 
that was the time. The movement in France tended, also, then, to test 
the opinions and principles of men, which was disclosed in a manner to 
leave no doubt on my mind of what I have suggested. No daring attempt 
was ever made, because there was no opportunity for it. I thouglit that 
Washington was opposed to their schemes, and, not being able to take him 
with them, that they were forced to work, in regard to him, underhanded, 
using his name and standing with the nation, as far as circumstances ad- 
mitted, to serve their purposes. The opposition, which was carried on 
with great firmness, checked the career of this party, and kept it within 



1816.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR, MONROE. 363 

moderate limits. Many of the circumstances upon which my opinion ia 
founded took place in debate and in society, and therefore find no place in 
any public document. I am satisfied, however, that such proof exists, 
founded on facts and opinions of distinguished individuals, which became 
public, to justify that which I have formed. 

" The contest between the parties never ceased from its commencement 
to the present time, nor do I think that it can be said now to have ceased. 
You saw the height to which the opposition was carried in the late war ; 
the embarrassment it gave to the government, the aid it gave to the enemy. 
The victory at New Orleans, for which we owe so much to you, and to the 
gallant freemen who fought under you, and the honorable peace which took 
place at that time, have checked the opposition, if they have not overwhelmed 
it. I may add that the daring measure of the Hartford Convention, which 
unfolded views which had been long before entertained, but never so fully 
understood, contri!:uted also, in an eminent degree, to reduce the opposi- 
tion to its present state. It is under such circumstances that the election 
of a successor to Mr. Madison has taken place, and that a new administra- 
tion is to commence its service. The election has been made by the Re- 
publican party (supposing that it has succeeded), and of a person known to 
be devoted to that cause. How shall he act ? How organize the adminis- 
tration so far as dependent on him when in that station ? How fill the va- 
cancies existing at the time ? 

" My candid opinion is, that the dangerous purposes which I have ad- 
verted to were never adopted, if they were known, especially in their full 
extent, by any large portion of the Federal party, but were confined to 
certain leaders, and they principally to the eastward. The manly and pa- 
triotic conduct of a great proportion of that party in the other States, I 
might perhaps say of all, who had an opportunity of displaying it, is a con- 
vincing proof of this fact. But still southern and eastern Federalists have 
been connected together as a party, have acted together heretofore ; and 
although their conduct has been different of late especially, yet the distinc- 
tion between Republicans and Federalists, even in the southern and middle 
and western States, has not been fully done away. 

" To give effect to free government, and secure it from future danger, 
ought not its decided friends, who stood firm in the day of trial, be princi- 
pally relied on? Would not the association of any of their opponents in 
the administration itself wound their feelings, or at least of very many of 
them, to the injury of the Republican cause ? Might it not be considered 
by the other party as an artful compromise with them, which would lessen 
the ignominy due to the councils which produced the Hartford Convention, 
and thereby have a tendency to revive that party on its former principles ? 
My impression is, that the administration should rest strongly on the Re- 
publican party, indulging to the other a spirit of moderation, and evincing 



364 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

a desire to discriminate between its members, and to bring the whole into 
the Republican fold as quietly as possible. 

" Many men, very distinguished for their talents, are of opinion that the 
existence of the Federal party is necessary to keep union and order in the 
Republican ranks, that is, that free government can not exist without par- 
ties. This is not my opinion. That the ancient republics were always 
divided into parties; that the English government is maintained by an op- 
position, that is, by the existence of a party in opposition to the ministry 
— I well know. But I think that the cause of these divisions is to be found 
in certain defects in those governments rather than in human nature, and 
tliat we have happily avoided those defects in our system. The first object 
is to save the cause, which can be done by those who are devoted to it only ; 
and, of course, by keeping them together, or, in other words, not by dis- 
gusting them by too hasty an act of liberality to the other party, thereby 
breaking the generous spirit of the Republican party and keeping alive that 
of the Federal. The second is, to prevent the re-organization and revival 
of the Federal party, which, if my hypothesis is true, that the existence of 
party is not necessary to free governments, and the other opinion which I 
have advanced is well founded, that the great body of the Federal party are 
Republican, will not be found impracticable. To accomplish both objects, 
and thereby exterminate all party divisions in our country, and give new 
strength and stability to our government, is a great undertaking, not easily 
executed. 

" I am, nevertheless, decidedly of opinion that it may be done, and 
should the experiment fail I shall conclude that its failure was imputable 
more to the want of a correct knowledge of all circumstances claiming at- 
tention, and of sound judgment in the measures adopted, than to any other 
cause. I agree, I think, perfectly with you in the grand object that mode- 
ration should be shown to the Federal party, and even a generous policy 
be adopted towards it ; the only difference between us seems to be, how 
far shall that spirit be indulged in the onset, and it is to make you thoroughly 
acquainted with my views on this highly important subject that I have 
written to you so freely on it. Of the gentleman of whom you have spoken 
I think as you do, of which I gave him proof when in the Department of 
War, by placing him in the Board of Officers for digesting and reporting a 
system of discipline for the army, and afterwards by other tokens of con- 
fidence ; and I add with pleasure that I should be gratified, regarding the 
feeUng and claims above stated, to find an opportunity at a proper time 
hereafter, should the event in contemplatiofi occur, to add other proofs of 
my good opinion and respect for him. 

" In the formation of an administration it appears to me that the repre- 
Benladve principle ought to be respected, in a certain degree at least, and 
that the head of a department (there being four) should be taken from the 



1816.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 365 

tour great sections of the Union, the east, the middle, the south and tho 
west. This principle should not be always adhered to. Great emergencies 
and transcendent talents would always justify a departure from it. But it 
would produce a good effect to attend to it when practicable. Each part 
of the Union would be gratified by it, and the knowledge of local details 
and means which would be thereby brought into the cabinet would be 
useful. I am nowise compromised in respect to any one, but free to act, 
should I have to act, according to my own judgment, in which I am thank- 
ful for the opinions of my friends, and particularly for yours. 

" On the subject of fortifications or works of defense of the coasts and 
frontiers, an ariangement has lately been made by the President with which 
I wish you to be well acquainted. You have heretofore, I presume, been 
apprized that General Bernard, of the French corps of engineers, under the 
recomiiiendation of General Lafayette, and many others of great distinc- 
tion in France, had offered his services to the United States, and that the 
President had been authorized by a resolution of Congress to accept them, 
confining his rank to the grade of the chief of our corps. This resolution 
being communicated to General Bernard by the late Secretary of War, to 
whom he was known, he came over in compHance with the invitation 
which accompanied it. From Mr. Gallatin he brought letters, stating that 
he was the seventh in rank in the corps, and inferior to none in reputation 
and talents, if not the first. It required much delicacy in the arrangement, 
to take advantage of his knowledge and experience in a manner acceptable 
to himself, without wounding the feelings of the oflRcers of our own corps, 
who had rendered such useful services, and were entitled to the confidence 
and protection of their country. The arrangement adopted will, I think, 
accomplish fully both objects. The President has instituted a Board of 
Officers, to consist of five members, two of high rank in the corps. General 
Bernard, the engineer at each station (young Gadsden, for example, at i:7ew 
Orleans) and the naval officer commanding there, whose duty it is made 
to examine the whole coast and report such works as are necessary for its 
defense to the Chief Engineer, who shall report the same to the Secretary 
of War, with his remarks, to be laid before the President. M'Eee and 
Totten are spoken of for the two first, who, with General Bernard, will 
continue till the service is performed ; tlie two latter will change with the 
station. The general commanding each division will be officially apprized 
of this engagement, that he may be present when he pleases, and give such 
aid as he may think fit. The attention of the Board will be directed to 
the inland frontiers likewise. In this way it is thought that the feelings 
of no one can be hurt. We shall have four of our officers in every con- 
sultation against one foreigner — so that if the opinion of the latter becomes 
i)f any essential use, it must be by convincing his colleagues when they 
differ that he has reason on his side. I have seen General Bernard, and 



3C6 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

find him a modest unassuming man, who preferred our country in the pre- 
sent state of France to any in Europe, in some of which he was offered 
employment, and in any of which he may probably have found it. He 
understands that he is never to have command of the corps, but always 
will rank second in it. 

" This letter, you will perceive, is highly confidential ; a relation which 
I wish always to exist between us. Write me as you have done, with- 
out reserve, and the more so the more gratifying your communications 

will be. 

" With great respect and sincere regard, yours, 

" James Monroe." 

The General tried to submit with a good grace. Still he 
could not quite give up Colonel Drayton. He wrote to the 
President elect another letter, which was eminently Jack- 
Bonian : — 

GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 

"Nashville, January 6, 1817. 

"Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 14th December last, which I have read with great interest 
and much satisfaction. 

" Your idea of the importance of the newly acquired territory from the 
Indians is certainly correct, and all the importance you attach to it will be 
realized. The sooner these lands are brought into market, the sooner a 
permanent security will be given to what I deem the most important, as 
well as the most vulneral)le, part of the Union. This country once settled, 
our fortifications of defense in the lower country completed, all Europe will 
cease to look at it with an eye to conquest. There is no other point, Am- 
erica united, that combined Europe can expect to invade with success. 

" On the other subjects embraced by my letter, as well as this, I gave 
you my crude ideas with the candor of a friend. I am much gratified that 
you received them as I intended. It was the purest friendship for you in- 
dividually, combined with the good of our country, that dictated 'he 
liberty I took in writing to yon. The importance of the station you were 
about to fill to our countiy and yourself, tlie injury in reputation that the 
chief magistrate may sustain from the acts of a weak minister, the various 
interests that will arise to recommend for office their favorite candidate, and, 
from experience in the late war, the mischief that did arise to our national 
character, by wickedness or weakness, induced me to give you my candid 
opinion on tlie importance of the character that should fill this office. I 



1817.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 367 

had made for this purpose the most extensive inquiiy in my power, from 
the most impartial sources, for the most fit character, combining virtue, 
honor and energy w^ith talents, and all united in the individual named. 

" I was fully impressed with the propriety as well as with the policy 
you have pointed out, of taking the heads of departments from the four 
grand sections of the United States, where each section can afford a 
character of equal fitness; Avhere that cannot be done, fitness, and not 
locality, ought to govern ; the Executive being entitled to the best talents, 
when combined with other necessary qualifications, that the Union can 
afford. 

" I have read with much satisfaction that part of your letter on the rise, 
progress, and policy of the Federalists. It is, in my opinion, a just exposi- 
tion. I am free to declare, had I commanded the military department where 
the Hartford Convention met, if it had been the last act of my life, I should 
have punished the three principal leaders of the party. I am certain an 
independent court-martial would have condemned them, under the second 
section of the act estabhshing rules and regulations for the government of 
the army of the United States. These kind of men, although called Feder- 
alists, are really monarchists and traitors to the constituted government. 
But I am of opinion that there are men called Federalists that are honest, 
virtuous, and really attached to our government, and, although they differ 
in many respects and opinions with the Eepublicans, still they will risk 
every thing in its defense. It is, therefore, a favorite adage with me that 
the ' tree is best known by its fruit.' Experience in the late war taught 
me to know that it is not those who cry patriotism the loudest who are 
the greatest friends to their country, or will risk most in its defense. The 
Senate of Rome had a Sempronius, America has hers. When, therefore, I 
see a character with manly firmness give his opinion, but when overruled 
by a. majority fly to support that majority, protecting the eagles of his 
country, meeting every privation and danger for a love of country and the 
security of its independent rights, I care not by what name he is called, I 
beheve him to be a true American, worthy of the confidence of his country, 
and of every good man. Such a character will never do an act injurious to 
his country. Such is the character given to me of Colonel Drayton. Be- 
lieving in the recommendation, I was, and still am, confident he is well 
qualified to fill the ofiice with credit to himself and benefit to his country, 
and to aid you in the arduous station a grateful country has called you 
to fill. 

" Permit me to add that names of themselves are but bubbles, and some- 
times used for the most wicked purposes. I will name one instance. I 
have, once upon a time, been denounced as a Federalist. You will smile 
when I name the cause. When your country put up your name in oppo- 
sition (0 Mr. M. I was one of those who gave you the preference, and for 



368 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

reasons that, in the event of war, which was then probable, you would 
steer the veFsel of State with more energy, etc., etc. That Mr. M. was one 
of the best of men, and a great civilian, I always thought ; but I always 
believed that the mind of a philosopher could not dwell on blood and car- 
nage with any composure ; of course, that he was not Avell fitted for a 
siormy sea. .\ was immediately branded with the epithet Federalist, and 
you also. But I trust, when compared with the good adage of the tree be- 
ing best known by its fruit, it was unjustly applied to either. 

" To conclude, my dear sir. My whole letter was intended to put you 
on your guard against American Seproniuses, that you might exercise your 
own judgment in the choice of your own ministry, by which you would 
gUde smoothly through your own administration with honor to yourself 
and benefit to your country. This was my motive, this the first wish of 
my heart, to see you when I am in retirement, endeavoring to nurse a 
broken and debilitated constitution, administering the government with 
the full approbation of all good men, pursuing an undeviating course, alone 
dictated by your own independent, matured judgment. 

" Present Mrs. J. and myself respectfully to your lady, and accept for 
yourself our best wishes, and believe me to be your most obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson. 

" The Hon. James Monroe." 

The next letter of Mr. Monroe's, written three days before 
his accession to office, is the shortest but most important of 
the series. We learn from it that General Jackson might 
have filled the place himself which he had asked for Colonel 
Draj^ton. 

MR. MONROE TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

""Washington, March 1st, 1817. 

" Dear Sir : — I wrote you a short letter lately by General Bernard, and 
I intended to have written you another, but had not time ; indeed, so con- 
Btantly have I been engaged in highly important business that I have not 
had a moment for my friends. 

" In the course of last summer tlie President offered the Department of 
War to Mr. Clay, who then declined it. Since it was known that the suf- 
frages of my fellow-citizens had decided in my favor, I renewed to him tlie 
offer, which he has again declined. My mind was immediately fixed on you, 
though I doubt whether I ought to wish to draw you from the command 
of the army to the South, where, in case of any emergency, no one could 
supply your place. At this moment our friend, Mr. Campbell, called and in- 
formed me that you wished me not to nominate you. In this state, I have 



1817.] GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. MONROE. 369 

resolved to nominate .... though it is uncertain whether he will serve. 
His experience and long and meritorious services give him a claim over 
younger men in that State. 

" I shall take a person for the Department of State from the eastward ; 
and Mr. Adams' claims, by long service in our diplomatic concerns, appear- 
ing to entitle him to the preference, supported by his acknowledged abili- 
ties and integrity, liis nomination will go to the Senate. Mr. Crawford, it ia 
expected, will remain in the Treasury. After all that has been said, I have 
thought that I should put the administration more on national grounds by 
taking the Secretary of State from the eastward than from this quarter, or 
the South or West. By this arrangement there can be no cause to suspect 
unfair combination for improper purposes. Each member will stand on his 
own merit, and the people respect us all according to our conduct. To each 
I will act impartially, and of each expect the performance of liis duty. While 
I am here, I shall make the administration, first, for the country and its 
cause ; secondly, to give effect to the government of the people, through 
me, for the term of my appointment, not for the aggrandizement of any 
one. 

" With great respect and sincere regard, yours, 

"Jamks Monroe." 

The blank in the above letter is to be filled with the name 
of the venerable Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, who, we may 
add, declined the appointment. Mr. Calhoun was subsequently 
nominated, but did not enter upon the duties of the office till 
the autumn of 1817. Meanwhile Mr. George Graham was the 
"Acting Secretary of War." General Jackson soon replied to 
the President. He strongly disapproved the nomination of 
Governor Shelby. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

"Nashville, March 18th, 1817. 

" Dear Sir : I had the pleasure this day of receiving your letter of the 
1st instant. That by G-eneral Bernard I have not received. I learn by this 
day's mail that he has reached Knoxville, and will be on in a few days. 

" My friend Judge Campbell was instructed and fully authorized to 
make the communication to you that he did, and, I hope, gave you fully 
my reasons for my determination and wishes on that subject. 

" I have no hesitation in saying that you have made the best selection 
to fill the Department of State that could be made. Mr. Adams, in the 
VOL. n. — 24 



370 LIFE OF ANDBEW JACKSON. [1817. 

hour of difilcnlty, will be an able helpmate, and I am convinced his ap- 
pointment wiU afford general satisfaction. 

" No person stands higher in my estimation than .... He is a well 
tried patriot, and if he accepts will, with a virtuous zeal, discharge the du- 
ties of the office as far as his abilities will enable him. I can not disguise to 
you my opinion on this occasion; ray anxious solicitude for your public and 
private welfare requires of me candor on all occasions, and I am compelled 
to say to you that the acquirements of this worthy man are not competent 
to the discharge of the multiplied duties of this department. I tiierefore 
hope he may not accept the appointment. I am fearful, if he does, he will 
not add much splendor to his present well-earned standing as a pubHc char- 
acter. Should he accept, rest assured, as long as I remain in the army it 
will afford me great pleasure in obeying your orders through him, and ren- 
dering his situation and duty easy and pleasant as far as circumstances wih 
place it in my power. 

" I am aware of the difficulties that surround you in the selection of 
your Cabinet. But the plan you have adopted of making all considera- 
tions yield to the general weal, will bring yon to retirement, with the sal- 
utations and applause of all the virtuous, wise and good ; and, should you 
be properly seconded by the Congress of the United States, you will be 
enabled to place the Union in a state of security and prosperity that cannot 
be shaken by the convulsions of Europe. To this end you can calculate 
with confidence on my feeble exertions, so long as my constitution may 
permit me to be useful. I have looked forward to that happy period, 
when, under your guidance, our government would be in the ' full tide of 
successful experiment' — when I would retire from public life, and endeavor 
to regain a much enfeebled constitution. Should you be properly seconded 
in your views, this period will arrive as soon as the measures you adopt 
for the defense of the frontier are carried into effect, by completing those 
fortifications that have been and may be selected for its defense, by erect- 
ing foundries and armories, and organizing and classing the mihtia. Then 
we will have peace, for then we will be prepared for war. Every man 
having a gun in his hand, all Europe combined cannot hurt us. Then all 
the world will be anxious to be at peace with us, because all will see we 
wish peace with all, but are prepared for defense against those who may 
attempt to infringe our national rights. 

" Accept assurances of my best wishes, and believe me to be, respect- 
fully, ycir obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson. 
" Hon. James Monroe, 

'• President of the United States." 

Mr. Graham held the office of Secretary of War for a few 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. SCOTT, .371 

months only. In October, 1817, he gave place to John C. 
Calhoun, of South Carolina, then in the prime of his man- 
)od, a favorite of New England, and of young men every- 
where. 

Thus ends the famous " Monroe Correspondence." It 
lay in the secretaries of the writers for seven years, neither 
of them anticipating its j^ublication. 

Mr. Monroe visited Nashville during his presidency, when 
General Jackson figured conspicuously among those who wel- 
comed and escorted the President. At the grand ball given 
him at Nashville, General Jackson and Mr. Monroe entered 
the ball-room arm-in-arm, the General in his newest uniform, 
towering far above the little President. On the other side of 
the President walked General Carroll, who was also a man 
of lofty stature. "Ah !" whispered one of the ladies present, 
" how our General does surpass every one — how he does throw 
every one into the shade !" — a sentiment that was most cor- 
dially assented to by ail of the little circle to whom it was 
addressed. 

\ 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 

General Jackson had scarcely dispatched the last of 
his lofty, dispassionate epistles to Mr. Monroe, before he was 
involved in a correspondence that was neither lofty nor dis- 
passionate. It was as though he had said to himself : " These 
fine letters that I have been writing may lead those Washing- 
ton gentlemen into the opinion that I am a mild philosopher 
in epaulets. I must now do something to correct that ab- 
surd impression." Or it was as though, looking into the fu- 
ture, he had been seized with sudden compassion for the 
readers of his biography, and said, "After the Monroe cor- 
respondence they shall have something more spirited and 
Jacksonian." 



372 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

It is a military principle that an order froni the central 
authority to a subordinate officer shall pass to *that subor- 
dinate officer through his military chief. Owing to the great 
extent of the country, the exigencies of the service, and the 
inexperience of Secretaries of War, this rule had been often set 
aside during the late contest with Great Britain, and much 
inconvenience had thence resulted. Some correspondence had 
passed on the subject between General Jackson and the gov- 
ernment, in the course of which the General had stated the 
rule and pointed out the evils that had resulted and might 
result from its non-observance. But it was still occasionally 
disregarded ; and disregarded, as General Jackson thought, 
without necessity. A case occurred in the spring of 1817. 
One Major Long was dispatched by the General to make a 
topographical survey of part of the Mississippi river. While 
General Jackson was awaiting his report, he read in a news- 
paper that Major Long, in obedience to an order from the War 
Department, had betaken himself to New York, and was there 
employed in designing the projected fortifications of the har- 
bor. About the same time. Long's report of his survey of 
the Mississippi was also published in the newspapers, without 
having been first transmitted to the General, by whose orders 
the survey had been undertaken. Need it be said that the 
General was exasperated beyond measure ? On the very day 
of Mr. Monroe's inauguration he wrote to the President re- 
monstrating against this irregularity. It required at that 
time about forty days for the mail to convey a letter from 
Nashville to Washington and bring back an answer. The 
General waited forty-nine days for a reply to his letter of re- 
monstrance. A President is never so busy as during the first 
month of his presidency ; nor was Mr. Monroe, at any time, 
very prompt to decide in cases of difficulty or delicacy. No 
answer to the General's remonstrance, therefore, was dis- 
patched in time to satisfy the impetuosity of that officer. 

In such circumstances, the proper course for General 
Jackson to pursue was obviously this : To wait a little longer 
— to repeat his remonstrance — to gain his point, or resign his 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. SCOTT. 373 

commission. He did neither of these things. Having waited, 
with what patience he could, for forty-nine days, he issued to 
the division under his command the following order : 



J 



"DIVISION ORDER. 

"Adjutant General's Office, 
"Headquarters Division of the South, 
"Nashville, April 22, 1817. 

" The commanding General considers it due to the principles of subor- 
dination which ought and must exist in an army to prohibit the obedience 
of any order emanating from the Department of War to officers of this 
division who have been reported and been assigned to duty, unless coming 
through him as the proper organ of communication. The object of this order 
is to prevent the recurrence of a circumstance which removed an important 
officer from the division without the knowledge of the commanding Gene- 
ral, and, indeed, when he supposed that officer engaged in his official duties, 
and anticipated hourly the receipt of his official reports on a subject of great 
importance to his command; also to prevent the topographical reports from 
being made public through the medium of the newspapers, as was done in 
the case alluded to, thereby enabling the enemy to obtain the benefit of our 
topographical researches as soon as the General commanding, who is respon- 
sible for the division. Superior officers having commands assigned them are 
held responsible to the government for the character and conduct of that 
command, and it might as well be justified in an officer senior in command 
to give orders to a guard on duty, without passing that order through the 
officer of that guard, as that the Department of War should countermand 
the arrangements of commanding generals, without giving their orders 
through the proper channel To acquiesce in such a course would be a 
tame surrender of military rights and etiquette, and at once subvert the 
established principles of subordination and good order. Obedience to the 
lawful commands of superior officers is constitutionally and morally re- 
quired J but there is a chain of communication that binds the mihtary com- 
pact, which, if broken, opens the door to disobedience and disiespect, and 
gives loose to the turbulent spirits who are ever ready to excite to mutiny. 
AU physicians able to perform duty, who are absent on furlough, will 
forthwith repair to their respective posts. Commanding officers of regi- 
ments and corps are ordered to report specially all officers absent from duty 
on the 30th of June next, and their cause of absence. The army is too 
small to tolerate idlers, and they will be dismissed the service. 
" By order of Major General Jackson. 

" KoBERT Butler, 

"Adjutant General" 



374 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

This order, publislied in all the newspapers, attracted 
universal attention. It was the talk of the whole country. 
The President, in a strait' betwixt two, unable to act in the 
matter without giving dire offense either to the Secretary of 
War or to General Jackson, did nothing. Two months after, 
however, the matter was forced to an issue. General Ripley, 
then in command at New Orleans, received an order direct 
from the Department of War, which he, in obedience to the 
order of General Jackson, refused to obey, and notified his 
chief of the fact. General Jackson at once assumed the 
responsibility. He wrote to the President, on the 12th of 
August, commending the " proper disobedience of General 
Ripley," and justifying his own conduct. " In the view I 
took of this subject on the 4th of March," said he, " I had 
flattered myself you would coincide, and had hoped to receive 
your answer before a recurrence of a similar infringement of 
military rule rendered it necessary for me to call your atten- 
tion thereto. None are infallible in their opinions, but it is 
nevertheless necessary that all should act agreeably to their 
convictions of right. My convictions in favor of the course 
I have pursued are strong, and, should it become necessary, 
I will willingly meet a fair investigation before a military tri- 
bunal. The good of the service, and the dignity of the com- 
mission I hold, alone actuate me. My wishes for retirement 
have already been made known to you ; but, under existing 
cii'cumstances, my duty to the officers of my division forbids 
it until this subject is fairly understood." 

The retirement of the acting Secretary of War, soon after 
the receipt of this letter, relieved the President from embar- 
rassment. In October Mr. Calhoun took possession of the 
War Department, and promptly decided that " on ordinary 
occasions orders from that department would issue only to 
the commanding generals of the divisions, and in cases where 
the service required a different course the general-in-chief 
would be notified of the order with as little delay as pos- 
Bible." 

Upon issuing this order Mr. Calhoun wrote to General 



1S17.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. SCOTT. 375 

Jackson a private letter, explanatory of his view of the sub- 
ject. This letter was highly prized by Greueral Jackson, and 
laid the foundation of a friendship between the General and 
the Secretary that lasted many years. As we shall have 
much to do with the relations between these two men in 
after times, it is necessar}- to insert Mr. Calhoun's letter in 
this place. 



MR. CALHOUN TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

" War Department, 
" December 29, 181 



..[ 



" Sir : The inclosed general orders have issued from this department, 
unconnected with the cause which originally occasioned them. I have 
been influenced, in framing them, wholly by regard to the public interest. 

" I am aware the subject is delicate and important ; but I trust that in 
practice no inconvenience under their present form will be experienced. 

'■' The general rule is that all orders, in the first instance, will issue to 
commanders of division ; and this rule to be deviated from only when the 
public interest may require it. The correctness of the rule itself cannot be 
doubted. Order, discipline and responsibility, all concur in estabhshing it. 
But that there are exceptions to the rule is to my mind not less clear. 
The very principles on which it is established point out the exceptions. 

" Why maintain order, discipline and responsibility, but to give to the 
movements of the army promptitude and success ? When, then, they can 
only be had by deviating from the established rule, the exception becomes 
the rule. That such cases must occur, a mere reference to the great extent 
of the divisions furnishes incontestible proof. I will not press the subject 
fiiither, for I perceive, by looking over the correspondence with the Presi- 
dent, the orders accord substantially with your view in relation to this 
subject. You insist on the rule that orders ought to issue to the com- 
manders of division, as they are responsible. This rule is the basis of the 
orders which have been adopted. You admit that necessity may cause 
exceptions to it, and it is the only cause of exception recognized by the 
ordere; for, I presume, when we speak of necessity in this case we only 
mean a due regard to the public interest. 

" If, then, we are agreed in our mode of viewing this subject in the 
abstract, we shall find little inconvenience in practice. For, on my part, 
Btanding as I do in relation to the army, it is my duty, and will be my 
pride, to consult on all occasions, with due regard to higher obligations to 
the public, its interest and honor. Permit me to say, that to you, indi- 
vidually, I participate in those feelings of respect which any lover of hia 



376 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

country has toward yon. In any effort to add greater perfection to out 
military establishment I must mainly rely for support on your weight of 
character and information. I cannot, therefore, conclude without expres- 
sing the wish that our country may long continue to Joe benefited by your 
military services. 

" With sentiments of esteem, etc., 

" John C. Calhoun."* 

Thus, in effect, General Jackson triumphed, and the dig- 
nity of the government was supposed to be saved. A right 
thing was accomplished in a wrong way. The affair would 
have terminated here but for the officious conduct of an 
anonymous intermeddler at the North. 

On the 3d of September, General Jackson received an 
anonymous letter, post-marked " New York, August 14th," 
of which the following is a copy : " Your late order has been 
the subject of much private and some j)ublic remark. The 
wai office gentry and their adherents, pensioners, and expec- 
tants, have all been busy ; but no one (of sufficient mark for 
your notice) more than Major General Scott, who, I am credi- 
bly informed, goes so far as to call the order in question an 
act of mutiny. In this district he is the organ of government 
insinuations and the supposed author of the paper inclosed, 
which, however, (the better to cover him,) was not published 
until he had left this city for the lakes. Be on your guard. 
As they have placed spies ujion Brown here, so it is j^robable 
you are not without them. The eastern Federalists have 
now all become good Republicans, and pledged to the sup- 
port of the President, as he to them. Government can now 
do well without the aid of Tennessee, etc., etc. ' A word to 
the wise is enough.' " 

Inclosed with this letter was an article from the New York 
Columbian, signed "A Querist," in which it was asserted that 
General Jackson's order had been dictated by the General's 
concern for a protege, and that by it the government waa 
insulted and nullified. General Jackson, who was not per- 

* Papers of Major Wm. B. Lewis. 



1817.] CORKESPONDENCE WITH GEN. SCOTT. 377 

sonaUy acquainted with General Scott, and had never seen 
him, addressed to him the following communication : — 

GENERAL JACKSON TO GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 

" Headquarters Divison of the South, j 
"Nashville, September 8, 1817. ) 
" Sir : With that candor due the character you have sustained as a sol- 
d.er and a man of honor, and with the frankness bf the latter, I address you. 
" Inclosed is a copy of an anonymous letter, post-marked ' New York, 
14th August, 1817,' together with a publication taken from the Columbian, 
which accompanied the letter. I have not permitted myself for a moment 
to believe that the conduct ascribed to you is correct. Candor, however, 
induces me to lay them before you, that you may have it in your power to 
say how far they be incorrectly stated. 

" If my order has been the subject of your animadversion, it is believed 
you will at once admit it and the extent to which you may have gone. 
" I am, sir, respectfully, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson. 

" General W. Scott, U. S. Army." 

General Scott's reply to this letter was every thing that a 
reply to it should have been. It was candid, courteous, ex- 
plicit. He disclaimed the authorship of the article in the 
Columbian ; he had not seen it, he said, till he received it 
from General Jackson, He had expressed the opinion, and 
still held the opinion, that the order in question was of a mu- 
tinous tendency. " Conversing," said General Scott, " with 
some two or three private gentlemen, about as many times, 
on the subject of the division order, dated at Nashville, April 
22d, 1817, it is true that I gave it as my opinion that that 
paper was, as it respected the future, mutinous in its character 
and tendency ; an;l, as it respected the past, a reprimand of 
the commander-in chief, the President of the United States ; 
for, although the latter be not expressly named, it is a prin- 
ciple well understood that the War Department, withqut at 
least his supposed sanction, can not give a valid command to 
an ensign." 

General Scott argued and illustrated the case at consider- 



378 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

able length, and with tue most perfect temper ; showing what 
confusion and disaster might arise if the President could, in 
no circumstances whatever, issue an order directly to a subor- 
dinate officer. He added : " I must pray you to believe, sir, 
that I have expressed my opinion on this great question with- 
out the least hostility to yourself personally, and without any 
view of making my court in another quarter, as is insinuated 
by your anonymous corres])ondent. I have nothing to fear 
or hope from either party. It is not likely that the executive 
will be offended at the opinion that it has committed an ir- 
regularity in the transmission of one of its orders ; and as tijgfj' 
yourself, although I cheerfully admit that you are mj superior, 
I deny that you are my commanding officer, within the mean- 
ing of the sixth article of the Rules and Articles of War. Even 
if I had belonged to your division I should not hesitate to re- 
peat to you all that I have said, at any time, on your subject, 
if a proper occasion offered. And what is more, I should ex- 
pect your approbation, as, in my humble judgment, refutation 
is impossible." 

To this most moderate, proper, and gentleman-like letter, 
General Jackson sent a reply of so incredible a character that 
when it was paraded in the campaign newspapers of 1824 
many pronounced it a forgery — a weak invention of the enemy 
to influence votes. But no ; it was really Avritten and dis- 
patched by General Jackson. And what is more, he thought 
so well of the performance as to furnish a copy for publica- 
tion ; and that, too, at a time when no one called for it and 
few knew of its existence. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 

'■• Headquarters Division of the South, ) 
" Nashville, December 3, 1817. ) 

" Sir : I have been absent from this place a considerable time, rendering 
ihe last friendly office I could to a particular friend, whose eyes I closed 
on the 20th ultimo. Owing to this, your letter of the 4th of October waa 
not received until the 1st instant. 

" Upon the receipt of the anonymous communication made me from 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEIS. SCOTT. 379 

N'ew York I hastened to lay it before you. That course was suggested 
to me by the respect I felt for you as a man and a soldier, and that you 
might have it in your power to answer how far you had been guilty of so 
i)ase and inexcusable conduct. Independent of the services you have ren- 
dered your country, the circumstance of you wearing the badge and in- 
signia of a soldier led me to the conclusion that I was addressing a gentle- 
man. With these feelings you were written to ; and had an idea been for 
a moment entertained that you could have descended from the high and 
dignified character of a major general of the United States, and used lan- 
guage so opprohrious and insolent as you have done, rest assured I should 
have viewed you as rather too contemptihle to have held any converse with 
you on the subject. If you have lived in the world thus leng in entire 
igoorance of the obligations and duties which honor impose, you are indeed 
past the time of learning ; and surely he must be ignorant who seems so 
little under their influence. 

" Pray, sir, does your recollection serve in what school of philosophy 
you were taught, that, to a letter inquiring into the nature of a supposed 
injury, and clothed in lang-uage decorous and unquestionable, an answer 
should be given couched in pompous insolence and bullying expression ? I 
had hoped that what was charged upon you by my anonymous correspon- 
dent was unfounded. I had hoped so from a belief that General Scott was 
a soldier and gentleman. But when I see those statements doubly confirmed 
by his own words, it becomes a matter of inquiry how far a man of hon- 
orable feelings can reconcile them to himself, or longer set up a claim to 
that character. Are you ignorant, sir, that had my order, at which your 
refined judgment is so extremely touched, been made the subject of inquiry, 
you might, from your standing, not your character, have been constituted 
one of my judges ? How very proper, then, was it, thus situated, and with- 
out a knowledge of any of the attendant circumstances, for you to have 
prejudged the whole matter. This, at different times, and in the circle of 
your friends, you could do, and yet had I been arraigned, and you detailed 
as one of my judges, with the designs of an assassin lurking under a fair 
exterior, you would have approached the holy sanctuary of justice. Is con- 
duct Uke this congenial with that high sense of dignity which should be 
seated in a soldier's bosom ? Is it due from a brother oflicer to assail in 
the dark the reputation of another, and stab him in a moment when he can 
not expect it ? I might insult an honorable man by questions such as these, 
but shall not expect they will harrow up one who must be dead to all those 
feelings which are the true characteristics of a gentleman. 

" In terms, polite as I was capable of noting, I asked you if my in- 
formant had stated truly ? If you were the author of the publication and 
remarks charged against you, and to what extent ? A reference to your 
letter, without any comment of mine, will inform how far you liave pur- 



380 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

sued a similar course; how little of the gentleman and how much of the hec- 
toring huUy you have manifested: If nothing else would, the epaulets which 
grace your shoulders should have dictated to you a different course, and 
have admonished you that, however small may have been your respect for 
another, respect for yourself should have taught you the necessity of reply- 
ing, at least mildly, to the inquiries I suggested, and more especially should 
you have done this, when your own convictions must have fixed you as 
guilty of the ahominahle crime of detraction — of slandering^ and behind hif 
back, a brother officer. But not content with answering to what was pro- 
posed, your overweening vanity has led you to make an offering of your 
advice. Believe me, sir, it is not in my power to render you my thanks. 
I think too highly of myself to suppose that I stand at all in need of your 
admonitions, and too lightly of you to appreciate them as useful. For good 
advice I am always thankful, but never fail to spurn it when I know it to 
flow from an incompetent or corrupt source. The breast where base and 
guilty passions dwell is not the place to look for virtue, or any thing that 
leads to virtue. My notions, sir, are not those now taught in modern schools 
and in fashionable high life. They were imbibed in ancient days, and hith- 
erto have and yet bear me to the conclusion, that he who can wantonly 
outrage the feelings of another, who, without cause, can extend injury 
where none is done, is capable of any crime, however detestable in its na- 
ture, and will not fail to commit it whenever it may be imposed by neces- 
sity. 

" I shall not stoop, sir, to a justification of my order before you, or to 
notice the weakness and absurdities of your tinsel rhetoric. It may be 
quite conclusive with yourself, and I have no disposition to attempt con- 
vincing you that your ingenuity is not as profound as you have imagined 
it. To my government, whenever it may please, I hold myself liable to an- 
swer, and to produce the reasons which prompted me to the course I took ; 
and to the intermeddling pimps and spies of the War Department, who are 
in the garb of gentlemen, I hold myself responsible for any grievance they 
may labor under on my account, with which you have my permission to 
number yourself. For what I have said I offer no apology. You have de- 
served it all and more, were it necessary to say more. I will barely remark, 
in conclusion, that if you feel yourself aggrieved at what is here said, any 
communication from you will reach me safely at this place. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Andrew Jackson. 

"Brevet Maj. Gen. W. Scott, TJ. S. A., New York." 

Upon reading this unique epistle General Scott very na- 
turally concluded that it had been written by a man in a 
tearing passion, and even indulged the hope of soon receiving 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE "WITH GEN. SCOTT. 381 

an apology for its ofFensi\e language, and a request to burn 
the letter. With this exj)ectation he showed the fiery docu- 
ment to but one individual, a confidential member of his staff. 
In his reply to General Jackson he declined accepting his 
challenge to mortal combat on religious grounds. " But," he 
added, " lest this motive should excite the ridicule of gentle- 
men of liberal habits of thinking and acting, I beg leave to 
add, that I decline the honor of your invitation from patri- 
otic scruples. My ambition is not that of Erostratus. I should 
think it would be easy for you to console yourself under this 
refusal by the application of a few epithets, as coward, etc., to 
the object of your resentment ; and here I promise to leave 
you until the next war, to persuade yourself of their truth." 

In remarking upon the violent and offensive language of 
General Jackson he mingled rebuke with compliment. " It 
would be as easy," said he, " to retort all this abuse as it was 
for you to originate it. But I must inform you, sir, that 
how^ever much I may desire to emulate certain portions of youi 
history, I am not at all inclined to follow the pernicious ex- 
ample that your letter furnishes." 

General Scott concluded by expressing a belief that, on 
the return of General Jackson's " wonted magnanimity/' he 
would be requested to burn a letter which could only have 
been dictated by passion. He should, therefore, hold the let- 
ter in reserve for a certain time. 

With this reply, which was most creditable to the writer 
in every respect, the correspondence, for the time, ended. 
Ere long. General Scott was surprised to see in the news- 
papers the whole correspondence. Several years passed, dur- 
ing which the two officers were never within a hundred miles 
of one another. The impression left upon the mind of Gen- 
eral Scott was, that if ever they did meet a scene of violence 
was to be expected. At length they were in Washington 
together, when the affair was brought to a termination in 
a manner which will be related at the proper place. 

There is no justifying General Jackson's conduct to Gen- 
eral Scott in this correspondence. It was ridiculous. It ex- 



382 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

hibits the worst weakness of his character in a striking lighft 
We must avow the truth that, with all his virtues, his good 
intentions, his great services, Andrew Jackson could no longer r»' 
bear opposition either to his will, his measures, or his oj)in- 
ions. His patriotism was real, but his personality was power- - 
ful, and the two were so intermingled with and lost in one 
another, that he honestly regarded the man who op])osed him 
as an enemy to virtue and to his country. Conscious of the 
rectitude of his intentions, having at heart the honor and 
interest of the United States, and unable to see two sides to 
any question, he could attribute a difference of opinion only 
to moral obliquity, mental incapacity, ambition, or spite. 
The reader must allow for this, must try and forgive it; must 
take into consideration the peculiar race whence this man 
sprung ; his singular career hitherto, and the frightful adula- 
tion of which he was the ceaseless victim. There are mil- 
lions of men now living who are as little able to tolerate an 
opinion different from their own, as little able to bear cen- 
sure, as General Jackson ever was. But many of us conceal 
this weakness of ours both from ourselves and from others. 
We do not fly into a passion when we are censured, and indite 
vituperative letters, because there are certain artificial re- 
straints to which we are subject, but which were not known 
to this frontier General. Nor have many of us to endure the 
calamity of being the pride and favorite of a nation, sur- 
rounded by flatterers, cheered by crowds, presented with 
swords by legislatures, with medals by Congress, with silver- 
ware by ladies ; sought by politicians, counseled with by 
presidents, and deferred to by cabinets. Yet how many of 
us find it easy to respect the understanding that differs 
:Vom us, or the motives that condemn us ? 

The good sense which enables a man to take a correct view 
of himself and of what is due to himself, is the rare and late 
fruit of culture and reflection. Andrew Jackson was uncul- 
tured and not given to reflection. He could feel. He could 
act. He could discern. Often he felt nobly. He often acted 
gloriously. His swift intuitive glance was often correct. 



s< 



1817.J CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. ADAIR. 383 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL ADAIR. 

But when that swift, intuitive glance was not correct, no 
man could correct it. The affair with General Scott was a 
case in point. The feud with General John Adair of Ken- 
tucky was another. In both General Jackson was partly in 
the right and partly in the wrong. 

In the battle of the 8th of January, 1815, it will be re- 
membered. General Adair commanded the Kentucky troops 
in the absence of General Thomas, who was sick. Solicitous 
for the honor of his adopted State and of the troops he had 
commanded. General Adair endeavored to convince General 
Jackson that the retreat of the Kentuckians on "the western 
bank of the Mississippi was not the ' inglorious flight' which 
the General's dispatch to the Secretary of War had repre- 
sented it. Some warm conversations on the subject passed 
between General Adair and the Commander-in-Chief after 
the battle. A few days later, Adair drew up a full and care- 
ful statement of the events that led to the retreat ; justifying 
the troops, and supporting his view of the affair by the written 
statements of officers who had witnessed and taken part in it. 
General Jackson's reply to this elaborate letter was moderate 
and conciliatory. "The court of inquiry," he said, " greatly 
to my satisfaction, have acquitted Colonel Davis of any con- 
duct deserving censure on the right bank of the river ; on the 
left, it gives me great happiness to state, that the Kentuck- 
ians who acted immediately under your command, sustained 
the honor of their State and of oui common country." 

With the writing of this letter General Jackson's action in 
the matter, for the time being, terminated. A slight inadver- 
tence, however, on the part of General Thomas or his secretary, 
led, in after years, to the misunderstanding we are about to 
relate. Before transmitting to Kentucky the decision of the 
court of inquiry, the secretary of General Thomas appended 



384 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

to it, by way of postscript, a few words expressive of his Gen- 
eral's hearty concurrence in the exculpation of the Kentucky 
troops." The General," he wrote, " is impressed with a belief 
that the conduct of the detachment of Kentucky militia com- 
posing Colonel Davis' command on the 8th of January has been 
misrepresented, and that their retreat was not only excusable, 
but absolutely justifiable, owing to the unfortunate position 
in which they were placed." The writer forgot to append his 
signature to this sentence. When, therefore, his letter was 
read in Kentucky, the words, " The General," were supposed 
to mean General Jackson. It was thought, tlii'oughout the 
State, that General Jackson had, at length, been convinced 
of his error, and had taken that mode of retracting the unjust 
language of his public dispatch. This view of the matter 
was highly agreeable to the gallant sons of Kentucky, whom 
the alleged " inglorious flight" of their brethren at New 
Orleans had, at first, overwhelmed with astonishment and 
shame. The dispatch of General Thomas, containing the 
exculpatory postscript, though often published in Kentucky, 
was not seen by General Jackson at the time. 

In 1817 was issued, in Kentucky, Mr. R. B. McAfee's 
" History of the War ;" the author of which quoted the words 
of General Thomas' secretary, attributing them to General 
Jackson, and characterizing them as a " dry, reluctant sen- 
tence of justification." The idea was conveyed that General 
Jackson, prejudiced as he was against the Kentucky troops, 
had been compelled, by the irresistible force of testimony, to 
acknowledge himself in the wrong. Even General Jackson 
vindicates our brave Kentuckians ! Their very accuser pub- 
licly withdraws his accusation ! 

This passage, copied into the Kentucky Reporter, was 
ehown to General Jackson. Prompt, indignant denial was 
dispatched to the editors, in which the General pronounced 
the retracting sentence " a forgery of the blackest kind," " a 
wicked, willful and corrupt forgery," and the author thereof 
" a villain." He demanded of the editors that they should 
publish in their journal, entire, the correspondence that had 



1817.] COKRESPONDENCE WITH GEN» ADAIR. 385 

passed between himself and General Adair on the subject in 
1815. He also intimated that his opinion of the conduct of 
the Kentuck}^ troops, as expressed in his dispatch after the 
battle, was still unchanged. 

The editors declined publishing the correspondence on the 
ground that it had been already published, and they did not 
wish to encumber their columns with uninteresting matter. 
They added, however : " We do not wish you to believe that 
we would obstinately refuse to publish in our paper any thing 
that you might desire us to publish. We have given you our 
reasons for declining to publish and republish what you have 
requested, but if these reasons are not satisfactory to you 
we will publish any thing for you which is not abusive or dis- 
respectful to ourselves.'*' 

Their reasons were not satisfactory to General Jackson. 
He wrote a second letter to the editors, going over the subject 
at great length, and reasserting all his former positions. A 
typographical error occurred in the printing of this communi- 
cation which embroiled General Jackson with General Adair. 
The offensive passage was written by General Jackson thus : 
" Here we have the positive declaration of the author (Mr. 
McAfee) that the forged paper was furnished by General 
Adair." This sentence was thus printed : " Here we have 
the positive declaration of the author that the forged paper 
was forged by General Adair." 

General Jackson said further : "I will now add that the 
full view which I had from the parapet of my line of defense 
gave me full evidence of the inglorious flight of the troops, on 
the right bank, before the enemy. And although I could not 
distinguish between corps, still it was clearly seen that the 
right first gave way ; and no where did I behold that manly 
defense which I expected, except from Patterson's batteries, 
which were well served. This statement I had made more 
than once to General Adair ; he knew my feelings on this 
occasion, and that I could not be brought to bend from them : 
my answer, as I now suppose, was found not to meet the pur- 
pose that was expected ; therefore this forged dish, dressed in 

VOL. II. — 25 



386 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

the true Spanish style, was produced to convey to the world 
the idea, expressed in your quotation from the History of 
thf Late War in the Western Country, that General Adair's 
application to me had produced this 'dry, reluctant sentence 
of justification.' Now, sir, you have declared that had you 
fuund that an imposition was intended, you would have felt 
iho same indignation whicli I had expressed ; you must now 
be convinced of it, and will I trust expose to public view the 
authors of this forgery, that they may receive at the bar of pub- 
lic justioe merited punishment. I hope it will not be found, 
as alleged by the author of the Late War, that General Adair 
has had any agency in bringing into existence this piece of fab- 
rication ; but he certainly appears implicated, and, if inno- 
cent, it is due to justice that he should be declared so, and 
the real source from whence it came ascertained. . . . 
You are pleased to remark that you ' can not see the pro- 
priety of so much warmth and indignation.' I trust that I 
shall ever feel an honest warmth and indignation when I see 
truth sacrificed at the shrine of local feelings and interest, 
and an attempt made, under the authority of my name, to 
blast the well-earned fame of meritorious and deserving men. 
From your own professions, I have grounds for believing that 
from the evidence now before you, you will feel equally indig- 
nant at the imposition, and believe that the troops in ques- 
tion have not been so much defamed, or the injustice done 
them so notorious as you had supposed. You state that the 
reputed conduct of those troops was calculated to stain the 
proud military character of a large and patriotic State. As 
well might it be said that the disgraceful flight of my rear 
guard, on the 24th January, 1814, at Enotochopeo, had stained 
the proud military character of the State of Tennessee. The 
cases are similar — I witnessed both. And could any one ever 
think that the disgraceful flight of a few, whilst others of the 
Bame corps fought bravely and sustained the honor of their 
country, could attach disgrace to a State ? Surely not. The 
fact is, that the Kentuckians, like all other good materials, 
have and ever will cover themselves with glory when well 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. ADAIR. 3S7 

officered and gallantly led ; but, like all other troops, when 
badly officered and timidly led will be covered with disgrace. 
You repeat your astonishment at my warmth : I will add an- 
other reason why I feel warm and indignant. From the fore- 
going exti-act from the History of the Late War in the West, 
it will be seen that those fabrications are attempted, through 
that medium, to be handed down to posterity as truths ; and 
that, too, without contradiction under the eye of those who 
knew their falsehood. The most unworthy and dishonorable 
feelings are there ascribed to me. I am described as reluc- 
tantly yielding justice to the demand of General Adair. Such 
degeneracy of feeling toward any of the tioops which I have 
had the honor to command is false ; and to ascribe them to 
ine could only spring from the most malevolent breast. . . . 
Justice and truth are my polar stars, from which I never have, 
nor ever will knowingly depart ; and ]3ermit me to add, that 
neither wealth, power, or any other consideration, can ever 
draw from me a falsehood, or prevent my doing justice. 
Whenever I could be operated upon by such ignoble feelings 
as either flattery or fear to do an ungenerous act, I should 
loathe myself and wish to close my mortal career." 

General Adair, who had neither forged nor furnished any 
paper for the purposes of the historian, and had not seen his 
work, was naturally indignant at the language of General 
Jackson, and replied to him in a tone that accorded with his 
feelings. Not content with a simple denial of the charge of 
forgery, he proceeded to offer a variety of satirical observa- 
tions upon General Jackson's letter. " I have long since been 
of the opinion," said Adair, "that no wise or prudent general 
would ever fight over his victories a second time on paper : 
perhaps no instance could be drawn from history where this 
rule would more forcibly apply than to the battle of the 
eighth of January below New Orleans." And much more of 
a character equally irritating, accusing the General of ill- 
temper, prejudice, and ignorance of what had transpired in 
his own camp. 

The reply of General Jackson was exceedingly long, and 



388 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

by no means of the intemperate character that might have 
been expected. " It is yoii, General," said Jackson, " who 
appear to write to the editors in a passion ; and this passion 
does not arise from any expression of mine, but from an error 
in the editors — whether it be accidental or design is for you 
and themselves to decide ; they have published it correctly 
in a note in the same paper, and corrected it in a subsequent 
one. It is a subject on which I feel no concern. On this, as 
on similar occasions when any become irritateti with me on 
false ])remises or information, and make loud complaints 
through public prints of acts never done, I regard it not : 
such passions always subside without injury. You ask 
through the Keporter an explanation of my allusion to the 
' Spanish Dish.' It will not be given ; my letter speaks for 
itself It is plain, and without innuendo. You are charged 
by the historian with having furnished the forgery commented 
on ; you can read it coolly, and draw your own conclusions. 
This is my only explanation. I am astonished at your impu- 
dence to speak oi fighting battles over again. You well know, 
sir, that your misrepresentations and falsehoods, combined 
with those of your colleague and the editors of a newspaper, 
have been disturbing the tranquillity of the public mind, by 
endeavoring to cast a stigma on the well-earned fame of brave 
and meritorious officers, and seeking to convince the world 
that men were heroes who ingloriously fled before the enemy. 
For the purpose of forestalling public opinion, you have ex- 
pressed a fear that I will not do you justice. This is only 
deception, for you know me better. As far as I know it, you 
shall have the truth." 

Passing over much iiTclevant matter, we come to the sin- 
gle paragrajih of General Jackson's communication which is 
devoted to the real point at issue between himself and Gen- 
eral Adair : " However I might be pleased with the acquittal 
of Colonel Davis, still I saw falsehoods in the testimony, and 
which, of ray own knowledge, I pronounce such. It was 
Btated in the evidence and reiterated to me in your letter of 
the twentieth of March, that Colonel Davis' detachment, 



1817.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEN. ADAIR. 389 

after having retreated to and formed on General Morgan's 
Hne, received the attack of the enemy, and fired from three to 
seven romids. You know, sir, very well, that when the enemy 
advanced on the right bank of the river, the parapet of my 
line being crowded with officers and soldiers, I ordered that 
they should take off their hats and give our troops on the 
right bank three cheers. Whilst in the act of cheering, I saw 
the right of General Morgan's line precipitately give way. 
The most expert and well-drilled soldier in the art of loading 
and firing could not have discharged his piece three times 
before they were many paces retiring with the utmost precip- 
itation. I therefore knew the statement to be false, and every 
person who witnessed this distressing scene knew it also. I 
have, and always will endeavor to reward the brave with my 
approbation ; but no influence, however extensive, no irrita- 
tion, however strong, shall ever cause me to deviate from 
what I believe to be correct, to do an act of injustice to brave 
men, by approbating tlie coward who deserts in the hour of 
danger. If such conduct toward the deserving can be termed 
' prejudice,' I glory to possess it." 

To which General Adair replied : " The General saw all 
this from his parapet, and he ordered his men to give those 
on the other bank three cheers ! ! I was standing by him 
when he gave this oixier, and with a smile (not of approba- 
tion) observed I was afraid they could not hear us. The dis- 
tance from us to them on a straight line was upwards of one 
mile and a half ; there was a thick fog, and I confess I could 
not see the troops of either army. All I could discover was 
the blaze from the guns ; and seeing that continue to pro- 
gress up the river was the only knowledge we had that our 

men were retreating The General tells you 

he has entered into this contest merely to do justice to two 
brave and meritorious officers, Patterson and Morgan. As 
to the Commodore, his best friends will agree, he stepped out 
if his line of duty when he undertook to designate corps in a 
battle on land to the Secretary of the Navy ; and if General 
Jackson can point out a single order or arrangement of Geu- 



390 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

eral Morgan that was not childishly weak and unmilitary, I 
am mistaken. He led no corps into action, and was only 
conspicuous whilst retreating in front of his men, calling tc 
+hem to form! form! which is often the case with those who 
run fiistest. Morgan writes merely to justify the General. 
These great chiefs have a great respect for each other. The 
General thinks I became the champion of the Kentuckians 
with the view of thereby obtaining a seat in the Senate of 
Congress, or in the gubernatorial chair of Kentucky. For 
this idea he is indebted to his friend George Poindexter, of 
fuo-itive memory. There is a strange coincidence between the 
minds and dispositions of these two great men. Loud, noisy, 
and abusive, nature seems to have formed them in mind and 
disposition for tavern and town bullies, but fortunately for 
society denied them the physical power necessary. It is 
owing to this defect that they have so frequently been en- 
gaged in paper contests. As to the General's very laconic 
answer to my former remarks on his ' Spanish dish,' I will 
only observe that this affair relates only to him and myself 
alone, and it only shows his willingness to rake from its ashes 
an old calumny of my connection with Colonel Burr. What- 
ever were the intentions of Colonel Burr, I neither organized 
troops at that time, nor did I superintend the building of 
boats for him, nor did I write confidential letters recommend- 
ing him to my friends, nor did I think it necessary after his 
failure was universally known to save myself by turning 
informer or State witness." 

General Adair added to his vindication of the Kentuck- 
ians a great mass of testimony, which, if the deliberate word 
of eye-witnesses can establish anything, establishes the truth 
of his version of the occurrences on the western bank of the 
Mississippi.* Whether this array of evidence had the effect 
of convincing General Jackson does not appear, as the contro- 
versy closed with the publication of General Adair's last 
communication. In later years the two generals became very 

* Soo pamphlet, entitled ''Letters of General Adair and QeneralJackson, 
relative to the charge of cowardice," etc., etc. Lexington, Ky., 1817. 



1817.] EXPLOITS OF COLONEL NiCHOLS. 391 

good friends once more, and "fought their battles over again" 
in a more agreeable manner. 

From these private quarrels the attention of General 
Jackson, toward the close of this quarrelsome year, was 
drawn away to the consideration of public events of threat- 
ening import, which nearly concerned the Commander-in- 
Chief of the Southern Division of the Army of the United 
States. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF COLONEL NICHOLS. 

There was trouble again among the Indians — the Indians 
of Florida, the allies of Great Britain during the war of 1812, 
commonly known by the name of Seminoles. Composed in 
part of fugitive Creeks, who scouted the treaty of Fort Jack- 
Son, they had indulged the expectation that, on the conclusion 
of peace, they would be restored by their powerful ally to the 
lands wrested from the Creeks by Jackson's conquering arm 
in 1814. 

This claim of theirs to the lost terrritory of the Creeks, 
though groundless, had a slight show of ground. The ninth 
article of the treaty of Ghent begins with these words : " The 
United States of America engage to put an end, immediately 
after the ratification of the present treaty, to hostilities with 
all the tribes or nations of Indians, with whom they may be 
at war at the time of such ratification, and forthwith to re- 
store to such ti'ibes or nations, respectively, all the posses- 
sions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or 
been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven, 
previous to such hostilities." 

Observe the words, ^^loith luhom they may be at war at 
the time of such ratification." The United States were not 
at war with the Creeks at the date of the ratification of the 
treaty of Ghent. The Creek war was at an end and the treaty 



392 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

of Fort Jackson signed four months before. The Creeks 
who had fled to Florida could only reply to this by saying, 
in effect : "We were not consenting parties to the treaty of 
Fort Jackson ; we were not then subdued, but still waged 
war against the United States : tve are as much entitled to 
be considered the Creek nation as were those recreant chiefs 
who sio-ncd away, at Fort Jackson, the common home and 
property of us all." The plea was plausible enough, and to 
tlu'Ri most convincing ; but it could not convince either the 
English or the American government. Indeed, the mere 
number of the Florida Creeks refuted it. At no time after 
the war of 1812 could there be mustered in Florida more than 
seven hundred Seminole ivarriors ; and a large proportion 
of these had neither the shadow nor the pretense of a claim 
to the ancient domain of the Creeks. This estimate is that 
of General D. B. Mitchell, who, as Governor of the adjacent 
State of Georgia, and afterward as Creek agent, had the best 
opportunity of forming a correct opinion.* 

This poor remnant of tribes once so numerous and power- 
ful had not a thought of attempting to regain the lost lands 
by force of arms. The best testimony now procurable con- 
firms their own solemnly reiterated assertions, that they de- 
sired and endeavored to live in peace with the white settlers 
of Georgia. General Mitchell strongly expresses this opinion/ 
All their " talks," petitions, remonstrances, letters, of which 
a large number are still accessible, breathe only the wish for 
peace and fair dealing. The Seminoles were drawn at last 
into a collision with the United States by a chain of circum- 
stances with which they had little to do, and the responsi- 
bihty of which belongs not to them. 

Colonel Edward Nichols, whose proceedings in Florida 
before the attack upon New Orleans have been related in 
previous pages of this work, reappeared on the scene of his 
remarkable exploits after the peace. He seems to have re- 
garded the Seminoles as his " mission." He went through 

* reposition of D. B. Mitchel before a committee of the United States Senate, 
February, 1819. Doc. 100, page 37. 



1817.] FURTHER EXPLOITS OF COL. NICHOLS. 393 

the preposterous ceremony, in the sprmg of 1815, of forming 
an alliance offensive and defensive between the Seminoles and 
Great Britain. He repaired and strengthened a fort on the 
Appalachicola river, sixty miles below the junction of the 
Chattahoocbie and Flint, which he styled the " British Post 
on the Appalachicola," and which afterwards acquired a sad 
celebrity as the " Negro Fort." These things he did entirely, 
as it seems, on his own responsibility, and without conde- 
scending to pay the slightest regard to the authority of the 
Spanish governor. He ruled and directed his Indians in the 
manner of a hot-headed young patriarch, who owed allegiance 
to nobody. Let us, however, be just to this wild, Avell inten- 
tioned Irishman. He has been accused of being an " insti- 
gator" of the Seminole war. The accusation is ftxlse. His 
advice to the Indians, on all occasions, was to keep the peace 
with the people of the United States — to defend themselves 
if attacked, but on no account ever to cross the line between 
the American and the Spanish territory. He even instituted 
a kind of police among the Seminoles, the object of which 
was to prevent any individuals of the tribe from plundering 
and molesting the Georgia settlers. It is important to estab- 
lish this point. I request the reader to read attentively the 
following letter from Colonel Nichols to Colonel Benjamin 
Hawkins, Creek agent. Several letters passed, in the spring 
of 1815, between Nichols and Hawkins ; but this is the prin- 
cipal letter, and it is the one chiefly relied upon by Mr. John 
Quincy Adams to sii23port his charge that Nichols incited the 
Indians to hostility, The letter played an important part in 
subsequent negotiations, and was tossed from court to court, 
and from war-office to war-office, a distracting shuttlecock 
for several months. The italics in the copy subjoined are 
those of Mr. Adams : 

COL. EDWARD NICHOLS TO COL. BENJAMIN HAWKINS. 

"British Post, i 

" Appalachichola River, May 12, 1815. ) 
" In my letter to you of the 28th ultimo I requested you would be so 
good as to make inquiry into the murder and robberies committed on the 



394 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815. 

Seminoles belonging to the chief called Bowlegs, at the same time declaring 
my determination of punishing with the utmost rigor of the law any one 
of our side who broke it. Of this a melancholy proof has been given in the 
execution of an Indian of the Ataphalgo town by Hothly Poya Tustun- 
nugee, chief of Ocmulgees, who found him driving off a gang of cattle be- 
longing to your citizens, and for which act of justice I have given him 
double presents and a chiefs gun, in the open square before the whole of 
the chiefs, and highly extolled him. These, sir, are the steps I am daily 
taking to keep the peace with sincerity ; but I am sorry^ to say the same 
line is not taken on your side, nor have you written to say what steps you 
are taking or intend to take to secure tliis mutual good. Since the last 
complaint from Bowlegs, I have had another from him to say your citizens 
Bave again attacked and murdered two of his people ; that they had stolen 
a gang of his cattle, but that he had .succeeded in regaining them. 

" I asked him what proof ho had of their being killed. They said they 
had found their bloody clothes in the American camp, which was hastily 
evacuated on their approach. Now, sir, if these enormities are suffered to 
be carried on in a Christian country, what are you to expect by showing 
such an example to the uncultivated native of the woods (for savage I will 
not call them, their conduct entitles them to a better epithet). I have, how- 
ever, ordered them to stand on the defensive, and have sent them a large sup- 
ply of arms aud amvuinition, and told them to put to death, without mei'cy, 
any one molesting them ; but at all times to be careful and not put a foot 
over the American line. In the meantime that I should complain to you ; 
that I was convinced you would do your best to curb such infamous con- 
duct. Also that those people who liave done such deeds would, I was con- 
vinced, be disavowed by the government of the United States and severely 
punished. They have given their consent to await your answer before they 
take revenge ; but, sir, they are impatient for it, and well armed as the na- 
tion now isj and stored ivith ammunition and provisions, having a stronghold 
to retire upon in case of a superior force appearing, picture to yourself, sir, the 
miseries that may he suffered hy good and innocent citizens on your frontiers, 
and I am sure you will lend me your best aid in keeping the bad spirits in 
subjection. 

" Yesterday, in a full assembly of the chiefs, I got them to pass a law 
for four resolute chiefs to be appointed in different parts of the nation, some- 
thing in the character of our sheriffs, for the purpose of inflicting condign 
punishment on such people as broke the law ; and I will say this much for 
them, that I never saw men "execute laws better than they do. 

" I am also desired to say to you by the chiefs, that they do not find 
that your citizens are evacuating their lands, according to the ninth article 
of the treaty of peace, but that they were fresh provisioning the forts. This 
point, sir, I beg of you to look into. They also request me to inform you 



1815.] rUKTHER EXPLOITS OF COL, NICHOLS, 395 

that they havo signed a trCv'ity of offensive and defensive aUiance with Great 
Britain, as well as one of commerce and navigatir)n, whioh, as soon as it ia 
ratified at home, you shall be made more fully acquainted with. 
" I am, sir, your very humble servact, 

" Edward Nichols, 

" Commanding his Britannic Majesty's forces in tlie Crock Nation.* 
"Addrftssetl, 'On his Britannic Majesty's service, to Col. Ben j. Hawkins, commanding at 
Fort Hawkins.' " 

Colonel Hawkins replied to this letter in a somewhat sat- 
irical, but perfectly polite manner ; saying, in effect : "It is 
none of your business, Colonel Nichols ; it is high time you 
were well out of Florida, and on your way home, with your 
silly treaty in your pocket. Nichols — we have had enough 
of you." But, a few days after, when Colonel Hawkins re- 
ceived the same complaint direct from the chief, Bowlegs, he 
promptly forwarded it to the Governor of Georgia, and re- 
quested him to investigate and redress the grievance. He 
took occasion, also, to send an account of Colonel Nichols' 
late performances to the Secretary of War, who notified Mr. 
Adams, then the American minister at the British court, re- 
questing him to remonstrate on the subject with the British 
government. Nichols, early in the summer of 1815, sailed for 
London, taking with him all his white troops, the prophet- 
chief, Francis, and a considerable deputation of Creek Indians. 
He left his fort on the Appalachicola in good order, well 
armed, and supplied with an extraordinary quantity of gun- 
powder. A few months after his departure, the magazine 
contained seven hundred and sixty-three barrels ! And this, 
t.^o, at a time when the high and mighty governor of the 
province had not, at Pensacola, powder enough to salute the 
royal standard of Spain. 

Mr. Adams, in an interview with Earl Bathurst, the Brit- 
ish Secretary for Foreign Affairs, called his attention to the 
conduct of Colonel Nichols, then just arrived in London with 
his crew of savages. Mr, Adams reported the conversation tf 
his government, " I said," wrote he, in a dispatch dated Sep- 
tember 19th, 1815, " that the American government had been 

* state Papers, 2d Session 15 th Ocngress, vol. iv,, No. 65, p. 34. 



396 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1815, 

peculiarly concerned at the proceedings of Colonel Nichols, 
because they appeared to be marked with unequivocal and 
extraordinary marks of hostility. 

" ' Why/ said Lord Bathurst, ' to tell you the truth, Col- 
onel Nichols is, I believe, a man of activity and spirit, but a 
very wild fellow. He did make and send over to me a treaty, 
offensive and defensive, with some Indians ; and he is now 
come over here, and has brought over some of those Indians. 
I sent for answer that he had no authority whatever to make a 
treaty offensive or defensive with Indians, and that this gov- 
ernment would make no such treaty. I have sent him word 
that I could not see him upon any such project. The In- 
dians are here in great distress indeed ; but we shall only 
furnish them with the means of returning home, and advise 
them to make their terms with the United States as well as 
they can.' 

" Perceiving that I had particularly noticed this declara- 
tion that he had declined seeing Colonel Nichols, he said that 
he should, perhaps, see him upon the general subject of his 
transactions, but that he had declined seeing him in regard to 
his treaty with the Indians. 

" In this conversation. Lord Bathurst's manner, like that 
of Lord Liverpool in the conference which I had about a 
month before with him, was altogether good humored and 
conciliatory. The conduct of all the officers and persons com- 
plained of was explicitly disavowed ; and I understood at first 
the observation of Lord Bathurst, that he had declined seeing 
Colonel Nichols, as an intimation that it was intended to ex- 
hibit to that officer unequivocal marks of displeasure. But 
the subsequent explanation left me to conclude that, although 
tne disapprobation of his proceedings was strongly expressed 
to me, the utmost extent of it that would be shown to him 
would be the refusal to ratify his treaty, offensive and defen- 
sive, with the Indians." "■■'=• 

The prophet Francis, however, was treated with much 
distinction by the British government. He was presented, 

* State Papers, 2d Session 15th Congress, rol. iv. No. 65, p. 50. 



1817.] THE NEGRO FORT. 397 

in consideration of his past services, with the commission and 
uniform of a brigadier general, with a gold-mounted toma- 
hawk, a diamond snuff-box, and a sum of money. He was 
also admitted to an interview with the Prince Regent, who 
received him with an imposing show of ceremony. A double 
flourish of trumpets, says a London journal of the time, an- 
nounced the approach to the j^resence of the Regent of " the 
patriot Francis, who fought so gloriously in our cause in 
America. He was dressed in a most splendid suit of red and 
gold, and by his side he wore a tomahawk mounted in gold." 
Francis and the other Indians returned home in 1816, 
bearing new exhortations from their friend Nicliols to live in 
peace with the white man, and to punish rigorously any of 
their own nation who should commit outrages upon the 
Americans across the border. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A RED-HOT SHOT AT THE NEGRO FORT 

To South Carolina and Georgia, the Spanish province of 
Florida was the Dismal Swamp of the early day ; that is, a 
safe and tempting refuge for runaway slaves. Those States 
were the last to give up the African slave trade. As late as 
the year 1808, cargoes of African savages were landed at the 
Georgian ports and distributed among the Georgian planters. 

Even the docile African is not reduced to submission in a 
day, or a year, or a generation. It is said to require three 
generations to produce a gentleman. We have heard, too, 
that the wild horse does not, until the third generation, be- 
come an always trustworthy nag ; nor the wild buifalo a 
sedate and well-broken ox. Tln-ee generations, also, must 
pass before the savage from the African coast is subdued into 
an unresentful, submissive, and contented slave. 'And, as 
there are some white men, some horses, and some buffaloes, 



398 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816 

of blood so fierce and temper so mettlesome, as never to be 
tamed, so there are some of the sons of Africa that can not, 
by any of the processes usually employed, be completely re- 
duced to servitude. They sink under the treatment, or fly 
to some Dismal Swamp. We have before remarked that the 
early newspapers of Georgia teem with evidence that the 
planters had trouble enough with such untameable spirits — 
those African chieftains, fierce and sullen, who could not 
bend themselves to submit to the steady toil of the plan- 
tations. 

The northern parts of Florida were full of fugitive slaves 
and the descendants of fugitive slaves at the time of which 
we are now writing. There were black men in Florida whose 
ancestors had lived there since 1750. A large number had 
maintained themselves there in freedom for many years, and 
reared families, and cultivated farms, and gathered herds of 
cattle. A few of the blacks had intermarried with the In- 
dians, but, as a general rule, the two races remained distinct, 
and there was antipathy between them. The Indians some- 
times assisted in the capture of runaway slaves, and, occasion- 
ally, even set on foot expeditions of their own accord, for the 
express purpose of taking runaways and delivering them to 
their masters — induced thereto sometimes by avarice, and 
sometimes by enmity. The number of negroes living in 
freedom in Florida about the year 1816, may be estimated at 
eight hundred, of whom about two hundred and fifty were 
men capable of bearing arms. They had chiefs and captains 
among them, the most ftimous of whom was one Garden, brave, 
athletic, wary, and cruel. 

After the departure of Colonel Nichols from Florida in 
1815, the fort erected by him on the Appalachicola river 
became the stronghold of these negroes, whose farms and 
grazing lands, we are oflicially told, extended fifty miles along 
the fertile banks of that river, above and below the fort.* 

* For all the documents relating to the Negro Fort, see State Papers, 2^ 
Session, 15th Congress, Vol. IV. This chapter is compiled almost wholly from 
tliosc papers. 



1816.] THE NEGRO FORT. 399 

By what means the Seminoles were dispossesspd of the fort 
we can only conjecture. The Indian is not a creature dis- 
posed to live in an inclosure. The probability is, that the 
Indians left the fort to wander off into the forests and ever- 
glades, and the negroes, finding the fort untenanted, took 
possession ; and thus, having nine points of the law on their 
side, chose to consider those nine points ten. With the 
negroes in the fort were a few Choctaw Indians, but no Semi- 
noles. The Seminoles, however, still claimed the ownership 
of the fort and all its valuable contents, averring, and aver- 
ring truly, that they had been given to them, and to them 
alone, by their father. Colonel Nichols. They resented the 
occupation of the fort by the negroes. But all the Indians 
in America could not have taken it, if defended with only 
ordinary vigilance and courage. 

This stronghold was a grand acquisition for the negroes. 
It was situated* on a lofty and picturesque height, long known 
by the name of Prospect Bluff. In the rear it was protected 
by impassable swamps, and it was too far from the river for 
its ramparts to be injured by any ordnance that could be 
fired from the small craft which alone could navigate the 
narrow, shallow, and crooked Appalachicola. The fort was well 
and strongly constructed. Among the ten or twelve pieces 
of cannon mounted on the ramparts were one thirty-two 
pounder and three twenty-fours. Within the fortifications 
there had been stored away by Colonel Nichols, and left by 
him in the custody of the Indians, twenty-five hundred mus- 
kets, the same number of sets of accouterments, five hundred 
carbines, five hundred steel-scabbarded swords, four hundred 
pistols, three hundred quarter-casks of rifle powder, and 
seven hundred and sixty-three barrels of common powder. 
The arms were new and of excellent quality, and the greater 
part of them were still in the boxes and packing-cases in 
which they had been brought from England. For what pur- 
pose, by whose authority, Colonel Nichols had been thus lav- 
ish of the property of those in whose service he was, I cannot 
imagine. But thus lavish he was ; and all these costly and 



400 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816 

dangerous stores had follen into the possession of the negroes 
who held the jDost, which was then known throughout the 
lower country as the Negro Fort. The fort, we must repeat, 
was about sixty miles below the Georgia line, and seventeen 
miles from the mouth of the Appalachicola. 

Emboldened by the possession of this stronghold, the 
negroes, it was alleged, committed depredations alike upon 
the settlers on the frontiers of Georgia, upon the Spaniards 
of Florida, and even upon the Seminoles ; driving off cattle, 
and sometimes firing upon boats ascending the river. The 
Negro Fort, in truth, was the strongest and most unassailable 
])lace in all the southeastern country, and was regarded in 
the light of a nuisance by the Spanish no less than by the 
American authorities. The mere existence of such a place, 
so near the borders of slave States, was looked upon as an 
evil of the first magnitude by the planters of the extreme 
south, whose slaves, in a few hours or days, could reach the 
negro settlements in the vicinity of the fort, and place them- 
selves beyond pursuit. 

General Jackson had scarcely returned home from his 
triumphal visit to Washington before he began to take meas- 
ures for the sujjpression of this jjortentous and growing evil. 
His first step was to write a letter to the Governor of Pensa- 
cola on the subject. This letter, considering that it was ad- 
dressed by Andrew Jackson to a Spanish governor, must be 
pronounced eminently civil and moderate. " I can not per- 
mit myself," concluded the General, " to indulge a belief that 
the Governor of Pensacola, or the military commander of that 
place, will hesitate a moment in giving orders for this ban- 
ditti to be dispersed, and the property of the citizens of the 
United States forthwith restored to them, and our friendly 
Indians particularly, when I reflect that the conduct of this 
banditti is such as will not be tolerated by our govemment, 
and if not put down by Spanish authority, will compel us, in 
Bclf-defense, to destroy them. This communication . is in- 
trusted to Captain Amelung, of the 1st regiment of United 
States infantry, who is charged to bring back such answer as 



1816.] THE NEGRO FORT. 401 

you will be pleased to make to this letter. In your answer 
you will be pleased to state whether that fort has been built 
by the government of Spain, and whether those negroes who 
garrison it are considered as the subjects of his Catholic Maj- 
esty, and if not by his Catholic Majesty by whom and under 
whose orders it has been erected," 

Captain Amelung was received by the governor with the 
courtesy of a Spanish grandee. In his reply to General Jack- 
son, the governor declared that he would state (" with the 
veracity which comports with the character of an honorable 
officer, in which class I rank myself") all he knew of the de- 
testable fort in question. He had but just arrived in Florida ; 
he had heard of the fort and of the conduct of the brigands 
who held it; he had written to his official chief, the Governor 
General of Havanna, on the subject, without whose author- 
ization he could do nothing ; he expected an answer at an 
early day, and as soon as he received it he would take the 
requisite measures ; till then he hoped General Jackson would 
not consider himself bound to do any thing in violation of the 
sovereignty of the king his royal master. Having spread 
these sentiments over ten pages of foolscap, the sublime gov- 
ernor concluded by observing that he held the virtues and 
military talents of General Jackson in the highest possible 
esteem, and that he prayed God to preserve his excellency 
many years. 

The lofty Governor omitted to mention a circumstance 
which Captain Amelung, in his report to General Jackson, 
supplied. The Governor had not the means of reducing the 
obnoxious fort. " Pensacola itself," said Captain Amelung, 
" is, I can assure you, entirely defenseless. The garrison con- 
sists of from eighty to one hundred effective men, exclusive of 
a battalion of colored troops, say about one hundred and fifty 
men, of whom the inhabitants themselves stand in constant 
dread. They have about one hundred and fifty serviceable 
muskets, about five hundred musket cartridges, and not enough 
gunpowder to fire a salute. One gun was mounting at Bar- 
rancas on the day I left there. To this is to be added the dis- 
VOL. II. — 26 



402 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816, 

siitisftiction of the inhabitants and even of a number of the 
officers of government, and the desire of a majority to see ct 
change eifected. I must not forget to present to you, on the 
part of the Governor, the thanks of the inhabitants of Pen- 
sacola for the exemplary and humane conduct of the anny 
under your command at Pensacola, and I verily believe their 
professions to be sincere. The Governor, also, on my men- 
tioning, in conversation, that I was persuaded you would will- 
ingly assist in destroying the fort, said if the object was of 
sufficient importance to require the presence of General Jack- 
son, he would be proud to be commanded by you ; and that 
if the Captain General of Cuba could not furnish him with 
the necessary means, he might perhaps apply to you for as- 
sistance." 

This report (dated New Orleans, June 4th, 1816), together 
with the Governor's letter, General Jackson forwarded to the 
Department of War, observipg to the Secretary that it ap- 
peared, from these documents, that the Spanish authorities 
would not take it seriously amiss if the Negro Fort were de- 
stroyed by the forces under his own command ; and he re- 
quested the orders of the President with regard to it. While 
General Jackson was awaiting a reply from the War Depart- 
ment events occurred which rendered a reply unnecessary. 

In the spring of 1816 it chanced that the forces of the 
United States on the frontiers of Georgia, under the com- 
mand of General Gaines, were busily employed in erecting 
fortifications at the junction of the two rivers (Chattahoochie 
and Flint), which unite near the boundary line between Georgia 
and Florida to form the Appalachicola. It was convenient 
to forward stores to this important post (named Fort Scott) 
by way of New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Appa- 
lachicola, in effecting which it was necessary to pass under the 
guns of the Negro l^'ort.* 

On the 24th of June the first convoy of stores desimed 
for Fort Scott sailed from New Orleans. It arrived oti* thi» 
mouth of the Appalachicola on the 10th of July. It consisted 
of four vessels — two gun-boats and two small schooners — the 



1816.] THE NEGRO FORT. 403 

whole under the command of Sailing-master Jairus Loomis, of 
the United States navy. General Gaines, thinking it probable 
that opposition would be made to the passage of these vessels by 
the garrison of the Negro Fort, ordered Colonel Clinch of the 
army of the United States, commanding the troops at Fort 
Scott, to descend the Appalachicola with an adequate force 
to the vicinity of the fort, and there take position until he 
heard of the approach of tha expected fleet. If the vessels 
were allowed to pass without molestation the fort was not to 
be attacked; if the negroes opposed the ascent of the boats the 
fort was to be reduced and destroyed. Accordingly, Loomis, 
on reaching the mouth of the Appalachicola, was boarded by 
an exprjess from Colonel Clinch, informing him of those 
orders, and requesting him to remain at the mouth of the 
river until he should receive notice of the arrival of the troops 
above the fort. 

The negroes, unfortunately for themselves, had resolved 
on war. For five days Loomis lay quietly at anchor, hearing 
nothing and seeing nothing to excite apprehension. " On the 
I5th," however, as he wrote in his official dispatch, " I dis- 
covered a boat pulling out of the river, and being anxious to 
ascertain whether we should be permitted peaceably to pass 
the fort above us, I dispatched a boat with an officer to gain 
the necessary information. On nearing her she fired a volley 
of musketry into my boat, and immediately pulled in for the 
river. I immediately opened a fire on them from the gun- 
vessels, but with no effect. On the 17th, at five a. m., I 
manned and armed a boat with a swivel and musketry, and 
four men, and gave her in charge of Midshipman Lufi'borough, 
for the purpose of procuring fresh water, having run short of 
that article. At eleven a. m., Sailingmaster Bassett, who had 
been on a similar expedition, came alongside with the body of 
John Burgess, who had been sent iq the boat with Midship- 
man Luff borough. His body was found near the mouth of 
the river, shot through the heart. At four p. m. I discovered 
a man at the mouth of the river on a sand bar ; sent a boat 
and brought him on board. He proved to be John Lopaz. 



404 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

the ouly survivor of the boat's crevr sent with Midshipmac 
LufFborough. He reports that on entering the river they 
discovered a negro on the beach near a plantation ; that Mr. 
Luif borough ordered the boat to be pulled directly for him ; 
that on touching the shore he spoke to the negro, and directly 
received a volley of musketry from two divisions of negroes 
and Indians, who lay concealed in the bushes on the margin 
of the river. Mr. Luffborougli, Robert Maitland, and John 
Burgess were killed on the spot. Lopaz made his escape by 
swimming ; and states that he saw the other seaman, Ed- 
ward Daniels, made prisoner. Lopaz supposes that there 
must have been forty negroes and Indians concerned in the 
capture of the boat." 

An ominous welcome ! Loomis, not knowing the num- 
ber, resources, or situation of the enemy, and unable, from 
the smallness of his own force, to detach a party in pursuit, 
remained at the mouth of the river and kept his men close on 
board the vessels. In effect they were prisoners ; for to ap- 
proach the shore was to court destruction. Nor were they, by 
any means, sure of not being themselves attacked by a flotilla 
of the desperadoes, as it was known that the negroes possessed 
a schooner and many large boats. Day after day passed in 
this suspense, during which the position of the commander of 
the squadron was one of extreme anxiety and discomfort. 
We must leave him in it, however, while we go to inquire in- 
to the movements of Colonel Clinch. 

July the 16th, Colonel Clinch, with two companies of 
troops, numbering together one hundred and sixteen men, 
embarked near Fort Scott, and dropped down the Appalach- 
icola toward the negro fortress. He was joined, a few hours 
after, by a large body of Seminoles who, by a strange coinci- 
dence, had set out on a negi'o hunting expedition, which they 
had projected long ago, and were then in full march for the 
negro settlements around the Negro Fort. A council was held 
between the American oflicers and the Indian chiefs, at which 
it was agreed that the two bodies should act in concert ; the 
Indians marching in the van and seizing every negro they 



1817.] THE NEGRO FORT. 405 

met, and the American troops following in their boats. On 
reaching the vicinity of the fort, both parties were to take a 
position, and await the arrival of tidings from the ascending 
convoy. 

Before reaching the fort the Indians, filing stealthily in 
advance, pounced upon a stray negro, upon whose person was 
found the fresh scalp of a white man. On being brought to 
Colonel Clinch, the prisoner said that Gar9on, with a party 
of Indians and negroes, had attacked a boat's crew of Ameri- 
cans, a few days before, killed some of them, wounded others, 
and taken one prisoner ; and that, after the action, Gargon 
and his gang had retired to the fort. This was enough for 
Colonel Clinch. He hurried forward, landed a mile above the 
fort, disposed his forces so as to prevent the escape of the 
garrison, and sent word to Loomis to come on with his fleet 
and assist in reducing the stronghold of the murderers. The 
Indians opened a desultory useless fire on the post, and the 
negro garrison replied with thundering salvos of artillery, 
which frightened the Indians terribly, but hurt no one, the 
troops being sheltered by woods. Toward evening of the 
first day of the investment, the Indians, during an interval of 
silence, demanded the surrender of their fort. The negroes 
hooted derisively in reply, hoisted a red flag, and over it on 
the same staff the British union jack, and sent thirty-two 
pound shot crashing into the forest again. On the approach 
of Colonel Clinch, all the negroes in the vicinity had hurried 
into the fort for safety. The place contained, when it was 
invested, one hundred men, and two hundred and thirty-four 
women and children. There were two magazines within the 
fortification, one containing six hundred barrels of powder, 
and the other one hundred and sixty-three. 

Before the gun-boats could be warped up the stream to 
Dueling Bluff, four miles below the fort, several days passed, 
during which the negroes fired their cannons as often as the 
troops showed themselves, but always without effect. They 
fired, too, upon Colonel Clinch as he passed the fort in his 
boat to meet Loomis at Dueling Bluff. 



406 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1816. 

At four o'clock in the morning of July 27th the gun-boata 
left Dueling Bluff and began to ascend the stream. At five 
they made fast to the shore within range of the fort's great 
guns, which opened fire upon them without delay. Loomis 
returned the fire, but the small shot from the gun-boats' ord- 
nance had no perceptible effect upon the solid ramparts. The 
coppers of one of the boats had been cleared of their usual 
utensils some hours before, and some cannon balls made red 
hot in the culinary fire. A gun was loaded with one of these 
and so aimed that the fiery missive should fall within the for- 
tification. The gun, pointed with deadliest accuracy, was dis- 
charged. 

Seldom, in the horror-laden history of war, has a single ball 
been charged with such a mission to destroy as that which then 
rushed from the cannon's mouth. It penetrated the larger 
magazine of the fort ! An explosion, as of a hundred thousand 
cannons, shook Florida. The Negro Fort in an instant was a 
mass of smoking ruins, covering heaps of human beings of 
every age — dead, dying, mangled, shrieking. No words can 
describe the scene, nor does it need description. There is no 
imagination so torpid as not to be able to conceive at once all 
its thousand horrors. 

Of the three hundred and thirty-four inmates of the fort 
two hundred and seventy were killed instantly ! The greater 
part of those who were taken out alive died soon after. Three 
men only crawled from the ruins uninjured, one of whom was 
Gargon, the commandant. 

The Indians, with that mingled meanness and ferocity 
which marks their conduct on such occasions, raised the un- 
timely yell of triumph, and clambered up the bluff. The 
troops and the crews of the gun-boats, stunned and ap- 
palled for some moments by the explosion, soon followed. 
The gun-boatmen were concerned for the fate of the sailor 
Daniels, who had been taken prisoner by Gar9on at the 
mouth of the river and conducted to the fort. Upon in- 
quiring of the survivors what had become of him, they as- 
certained that he had been tarred and burnt alive. As a 



1817.] THE 8EMIN0LES FIND NEW FRIENDS 407 

punishment for this savage act, Gar^on and a Choctaw 
chief were delivered over to the Seminoles ■ and init to 
death. 

And thus was destroyed, not the Negro Fort only, but 
the growing negro power of Florida. Peace and a feeling 
of security were restored to the borders — for a time. The 
Indians and negroes were alike impressed and overawed 
by such a striking display of the white man's wonder- 
working wit. 

Colonel Clinch had unwisely promised to bestow upon the 
friendly Indians all the small arms that might be found in the 
fort, and, accordingly, a large quantity of muskets, pistols, 
swords and accoutrements, uninjured by the explosion, were 
carried off by the Seminoles. The possession of these arms 
had their effect, doubtless, upon subsequent events. The 
tribe might never have been mad enough to take up arms 
against the United States if they had not had so many 
arms to take up. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS. 

The blowing up of the Negro Fort, besides quieting the 
frontiers for a few months, demonstrated to all parties con- 
cerned that the Spanish government in Florida was not a re- 
ality but a burlesque. The explosion gave an impetus to the 
negotiations for the purchase of the province by the United 
States. Before a year had elapsed, such hopeful progress had 
been made in the negotiation that American sjjeculators, who 
had access to official information, began to buy land in the 
vicinity of Pensacola. Among those who did so, late in the 
summer of 1817, were a party of Tennesseans, headed by 
Captain John Donelson and Major John H. Eaton, both near 
friends and connections of General Jackson. It is probable 
enough that General Jackson suggested this investment. It 



408 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1817. 

is certain that he approved it. These gentlemen bought sixty 
acres of land 'close to Pensacola, and two thousand acres on 
the bay, two or three miles distant from the town, paying for 
the whole about sixteen thousand dollars.* Many other gen- 
tlemen of Tennessee dabbled in similar speculations. There 
was, indeed, a kind of rage for Pensacola lots in 1817. It was 
thought that as soon as the incubus of Spanish rule was re- 
moved from Florida, the country would make the most sur- 
prising advances, and Pensacola would soon become the rival 
of New Orleans for the commerce of the Gulf. 

But there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. 
Other parties were looking upon Florida with covetous eyes. 
Other powers had claims upon Florida besides Spain and 
Manifest Destiny. Before the cession of Florida to the 
United States could be peacefully consummated some time 
was to elapse, and many strange and deplorable events were to 
occur. 

The Seminoles were in a suppressed ferment. The explo- 
sion of the Negro Fort had an unexpected effect upon their 
already disordered minds. Until the band of negro-hunting 
Seminoles fell in with Colonel Clinch as he was descending 
the Appalachicola in July, 1816, the tribe had not generally 
learned that the forces of the United States were construct- 
ing forts at and above the junction of the Chattahoochie and 
Flint. The lands upon which those new forts were built was 
part of those which the treaty of Fort Jackson had wrested 
from the Creeks, and which the Seminoles still claimed, and 
still hoped, fondly and foolishly, that Colonel Nichols would 
regain for them. The poor, deluded Seminoles looked with 
alarm and despair upon the construction of these forts, which 
hemmed them narrowly in between a line of forts and the 
Gulf of Mexico. The Little Prince, one of the Seminole 
chiefs, sent a talk, or remonstrance to General Gaines on the 
subject early in 1816, requesting him to send his talk to Gen- 
eral Jackson. " I beg," said the chief in conclusion, " that 

• Deposition of .John H. Eaton before a committee of the United Statea Sen- 
ate, February, 1819. 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS 409 

you will send me back an answer, and a little ink, and a sheet 
of paper, in order to enable me to write again if it should be 
necessary." 

In 1816 and 1817, some of the lands in Georgia, formerly 
belonging to the Creeks, were surveyed and sold, and the In- 
dians who still lived on them were ordered to remove. In 
some instances the Indians were removed by force. 

Besides these grievances (and they could not but seem such 
to the Seniinoles) they had others which were gi'ievances indeed. 
The explosion of the Negro Fort did not destroy all the des- 
peradoes of Florida. " The peace of the frontier of Greorgia," 
says General D. M. Mitchell, who was the governor of that 
State in 1817, " has always been exposed and disturbed, more 
or less, by acts of violence committed as well by the whites as 
the Indians, and a spirit of retaliation has prevailed. These 
petty acts of aggression were increased and multiplied by a 
set of lawless and abandoned characters, who had taken refuge 
on both sides of the St. Mary's river, living principally by 
plunder. I believe the first outrage committed on the fron- 
tier of Georgia, after the treaty of Fort Jackson, was by these 
banditti, who plundered a party of the Seminole Indians on 
their way to Georgia for the purpose of trade, and killed one 
of them." 

We need no new evidence on a subject like this. The 
white settlers on the frontiers have never lived in peace with 
Indians, and can not live in peace with them. The intense 
antipathy which is excited in the mind of the white man by 
living in proximity to the red man is sure at last to degen- 
erate into rancorous hostility. The white settler does not 
long believe that an Indian has rights which the white man 
is bound to respect.* 

* A receut letter from California contains the following : " The Federal gov- 
ernment committed a great mistake ten years ago in not ordering a large military- 
force to this State with orders to hunt and shoot down all the Indians from the 
Colorado to the Klamath. This would have been the cheapest method of man- 
aging the Indian affairs of California, and perhaps the most humane. A weak sen- 
timentalism may be horrified at the slaughter of Indians, as you would slaughter 
wolves; but the strong hearted, clear headed philanthropist w'l^ say that a gen 



410 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

Nevertheless, for several months after the destruction of 
the Negro Fort, the frontiers were not disturbed by any 
" outrages" serious enough to be heard of beyond the locality 
in which they occurred. Early in the spring of 1817, a great 
part of the tFnited States troops were withdrawn from Fort 
Scott ; a circumstance deplored at the time, and protested 
against by Governor Mitchell, but without immediate eifect. 
The Seminoles, no longer protected and no longer overawed 
by the forces of the United States, were more exposed than 
ever to the outrages of the "banditti," and less restrained 
than ever from sending out parties to retaliate. 

In all their troubles, the first and last thought of the 
Seminoles was their old friend, Colonel Nichols, and the pro- 
mises he had left them that their lands should be restored, 
and their rights protected by the strong arm of Britain. But 
they had no means of conveying to him the tidings of their 
distress. Even if " a little ink and a sheet of paper" had not 
been wanting to them, they could not send a letter across the 
ocean, nor even to the British Grovernor of New Providence. 
They applied, it is true, to one Hambly, who had served 
under Nichols, and who was then a clerk in the employ of 
Forbes & Co., a trading-house of Florida, one of whose depots 
was established on the site of the Negro Fort. But Hambly, 
like his employers, was supposed to have gone over to the 
" American party," and did not, so the Indians thought, for- 
ward their talks to the British authorities. The Indians com- 
plained, too, that Forbes & Co. undervalued their peltries, 

eral slaughter, for the clearly-expressed purpose of getting the friendless red meu 
out of the way, is preferable to the system of slow heart-breakage, and iong- 
drawn torments now practiced. It is a settled fact that every wild Indian in the 
State must die; and the question is, whether it were better that he should be 
shot at once, or tortured through half a dozen years by rum, disease, bereave- 
ment of all relatives and friends, and then finally shot because he has committed 
some 'outrage.' If I were the Indian, I should prefer being shot at once; I 
should enter a strong protest against this violation of all my natural rights by 
wicked, rude, uncontrolled white men, they being secure from punishment, and 
I hopeless of redress. It is supposed that ten years ago there were sixty thou- 
Band Indians in the State: to-day there are not ten thousand." — New York Tri- 
buTie, September, 1859. 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS. 411 

and demanded exorbitant* prices for the goods which they 
gave in exchange. They held the firm in distrust and dis- 
like — whether justly or unjustly no evidence now accessible 
enables us to decide. 

But the Seminoles found friends at length, in whom they 
confided, who entered into their feelings, and who assisted 
them to give utterance to their complaints. 

The group of islands, five hundred in number, called the 
Bahamas, belonging to Great Britain, is separated from the 
eastern coast of Florida by a channel only forty-five miles 
wide. Of these islands New Providence is the largest, and 
of New Providence Nassau is the principal town. The Brit- 
ish governor resides at Nassau, which was a town of seven or 
eight thousand inhabitants in 1817. The people of New 
Providence were naturally conversant Avith the affairs of 
Florida. At New Providence Colonel Nichols had enlisted 
part of the troops with which in 1814 he made his famous 
descent upon Florida. To New Providence many of those 
troops returned after the war. At New Providence the chief 
Francis stopped on his way home from England. The Gov- 
ernor of New Providence, being the nearest representative of 
British majesty, was the person who. Colonel Nichols had 
assured the Seminoles, would look to their interests, give 
them advice, and receive their talks. 

Early in the year 1817, Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotch- 
man by birth, for many years a merchant of New Providence, 
came in his own schooner from the Bahamas to trade in 
Florida with the Indians and Spaniards. He brought with 
hinj} such articles as powder, lead, knives, blankets, vermil- 
ion, beads, calico, and clothing, with the design of exchanging 
these commodities for skins, beeswax, and corn. The popula- 
tion of Florida at that time may have been, in all, ten thou- 
sand, and there was, accordingly, a field for such a trade as 
he proposed to open. 

Arbuthnot was a man past the prime of life, of some sub- 
stance, of good presence, and of respectable education. HivS 
letters, log-book, diary, and other writings, which his subse- 



412 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817, 

quent tragic fate caused to be published, show him to have 
been a man of intelligence, ability and humanity — a credit- 
able specimen of a Scottish merchant. He came to Florida 
as a trader merely. He came, moreover, as a kind of com- 
I>etitor for the favor of the Indians with the house of Forbes 
& Co., and he may have come in consequence of the known 
dissatisfaction of the Indians with that firm. 

His interests, therefore, as well as his inclinations, induced 
him to take the part of the Seminoles, and to exhibit his 
partialitv for them in various ways. He bore no commission 
from the Governor of New Providence. He neither had, nor 
exercised, nor attempted to exercise, any authority in Flor- 
ida. He was a trader, and nothing but a trader. But he 
was a trader who had good feeling enough to take an interest 
in the welfare of his untutored customers. That he should 
have adopted the Seminole side of the questions in dispute, 
and shared their prejudices, was most natural to a man in his 
gituation, who could not have been well informed respecting 
a portion of the history of the United States, of which sena- 
tors in Congress were ignorant. However he may have erred 
in opinion on the subjects referred to, his voice was always 
for peaceful measures. Keep the peace, at all hazards, under 
all provocations, was the burden of his advice to the Indians 
on every occasion. Not a syllable can be found in his papers 
which can be fairly made to support the charge that he insti- 
gated the Indians to hostility. A man of his intelligence and 
caution, all of whose interests were on the side of peace, could 
have held no other language to this poor fragment of a tribe 
than such as tended to peace. ^ 

Arbuthnot had not been long in Florida before he was 
solicited and authorized by the Indians to make known their 
situation and their alleged grievances to the British govern- 
ment. He complied with their request. He wrote to the 
Governor of New Providence, to the British Minister at 
"Washington, to Colonel Nichols in London, to Hambly at 
Prospect Bluff, to the Governor General of Havanna, to the 
Spanish governors in Florida, to the commandants of the 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND N E V7 FRIENDS. 413 

« 

American posts, and finally to General Mitcliell of Georgia, 
detailing the complaints of the Seminoles at great length, 
communicating their talks, and calling upon his correspond- 
ents to bestir themselves in their behalf. 

His own feelings with regard to the injuries of which the 
Seminoles complained may be gathered from an entry in his 
diary, written late in the summer of 1817, as he was about 
to sail to New Providence : " These men," he writes, " are 
children of nature ; leave them in their forests to till their 
fields and hunt the stag, and graze their cattle, their ideas 
will extend no further ; and the honest trader, in supplying 
their moderate wants, may make a handsome profit of them. 
They have been ill treated by the English and robbed by 
the Americans ; cheated by those who have dealt with them, 
receiving goods and other articles at most exorbitant prices 
for their j)eltry, which have been much undervalued. I say 
the English ill treat them. After making them parties in 
the war with America, they leave them without a pilot, to be 
robbed and ill treated by their natural and sworn enemies the 
Americans. When the English officer, Colonel Nichols, left 
Prospect Bluff, on the Apj^alachicola river, he left particular 
orders with Cappachimico and the other chiefs, not on any 
account to enter on the territory of the Americans, while, at 
the same time he informed them the Americans were to give 
up that territory they had taken possession of during the war. 
But while he informed the Indians how they should act, and 
what the Americans were to do in compliance with the treaty, 
he left no person to guide them in their conduct, in case the 
latlfer should not comply, or continue to extend their encroach- 
ments and commit aggressions. When such was the case 
they had none to represent their case to the British govern- 
ment but William Hambly, the clerk of John Forbes, and 
Doyle, another of his clerks, both of whom had, long before 
the conclusion of the war, sold themselves to the American 
government; and while they were receiving British pay acted 
as spies to the Americans. These persons were not likely to 



414 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

represent the conduct and encroachments of the Americans in 
their true light." 

It may be advisable to add to this extract one of the let- 
ters written by Arbuthnot in the summer of 1817, on behalf 
of the Serninoles. It will interest the reader, besides showing, 
better than could be otherwise shown, the spirit of Arbuth- 
not's conduct with regard to the Indians. 

ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT TO COLONEL EDWARD NICHOLS. 

" Nassau, New Providence, ) 
"August 26, 1817. ) 

" Sir : Especially authorized by the chiefs of the lower Creek nation, 
whose names I afSx to the present, I am desired to address you, that you 
may lay their complaint before his majesty's government. They desire it 
to be made known that they have implicitly followed your advice in living 
friendly with the Americans, who are their neighbors, and nowise attempt 
to molest them, though they have seen the Americans encroach on their 
territory, burning their towns and making fields where their houses stood. 
Rather than make resistance, they have retired lower in the peninsula. 
The town Eahallaway, where Olis Micco was chief, is one instance of the 
encroachments of the Americans. This town was situated under the guns 
of Fort Gaines, and Micco was desired to submit to the Americans, or his 
town would be blown to atoms. Eather than do so, he retired, and is now 
living in the lower nation, and his fields, and even where the town stood, 
are ploughed up by the Americans. They complain of the English govern- 
ment neglecting them, after having drawn them into a war with America ; 
that you, sir, have not kept your promise, in sending people to reside 
among them ; and that if they have not some person or persons, resident 
in the nation, to Avatch over their interest, they will soon be driven to the 
extremity of the peninsula. You left Mr. Hambly to watch over the in- 
terest of the Creek nation ; but you hardly left the nation when he turned 
traitor, and was led by Forbes to take the part of the Americans. His let- 
ter to me, of which I annex you a copy, will show you what length he 
could go, if he had the means. It is Hambly and Doyle who give the In- 
dians all the trouble they experience. They send their emissaries among 
the lower Creeks, and make them believe the Cowhellas, aided by the 
Americans, are coming to destroy them; thus both are put in fear, and 
their fields are neglected, and hunting is not thought of. I have endeav- 
ored to do away this fear by writing the chief of the Cowella towns that 
they ought to live on friendly terms with their brethren of the lower nation, 
whose wishes were to be on good terms with them, and not to listen tc 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS. 435 

any bad talks, but to chase those that give them from among them. My 
letter was answered from them rather favorably, and I hope the talk that 
was sent to the Big Warrior last June will heal the difl'erence between them, 

"•Hillisajo (Francis) arrived in my schooner at Ocklocknee Sound last 
June, and was well received by all the chiefs and others who came to wel- 
come him home. In consequence of his arrival a talk was held, the sub- 
stance of which was put on paper for them, and it was sent with a pipe 
of peace to the other nations. HilUsajo wished to return to Nassau with 
me, but I prevailed on him to stay in the nation and keep them at peace. 
I regret, sir, to notice this poor man's affairs, thougli, by his desire. It ap- 
pears that he arrived at Nassau a short time after I had left it in January, 
and Captain Woodbine being there, took charge of him, his gooas and 
money, prevailing on the governor to let him stay with him until he went 
down to the nation, which it was his intention to do. Of the money received 
from Governor Cameron, there had only been given him by Captain Wood- 
bine eighty dollars ; also a barrel of sugar, a bag of coffee, and a small keg 
of rum ; and the interpreter, Thugart, infoi'med me that when Hillisajo 
asked lor an account. Captain Woodbine refused it, saying it would be 
useless to a man who could not read. He also misses two cases, one of 
which he thinks contains crockery. I have made inquiry of his Majesty's 
ordnance storekeeper, and he informs me the whole were delivered to 
Captain Woodbine ; they are therefore lost to Hillisajo. 

" I am desired to return Hillisajo's warmest acknowledgments for the 
very handsome manner you treated him in England, and he begs his 
prayer may be laid at the foot of his royal highness, the Prince Regent. I 
left him and all his family well on the twentieth of June. Old Cappachi- 
micco desires me to send his respects, and requests that you will send out 
some people to Kve among them, and all the land they took from Forbes 
shall be theirs. At all events, they must have an agent among them, to 
see that the Americans adhere to the treaty, and permit them to live un- 
molested on their own lands. This agent should be authorized by his 
Majesty's government, or he will not be attended to by the Americans. 
In the gazettes of Georgia, the Americans report the Sepinole Indians are 
continually committing murders on their borders, and making incursions 
into the State. These are fabrications, tending to irritate the American 
government against the poor Indians; for, during the time I was in the 
nation, there was only one American killed, and he, with two others, were 
in the act of driving off cattle belonging to Boleck, chief of Suwany, whereas 
three men and a boy were killed last June by a party of American cattle- 
stealers, while in their hunting-camps ; the boy they scalped, and one of 
Boleck's head men was killed in St. John's river in July. The backwood 
Georgians, and those resident on the borders of the Indian nation, are con- 
tinually entering it and driving off cattle. They have in some mstancea 



416 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

made settlements, and particularly on the Choctobacky river, where a con- 
Biderable number have descended. 

"By the treaty with Great Britain, the Americans were to give up to 
the Indians all the lands that may have been taken from them durinp: the 
war, and place tliem on the same footing they were in 1811. It appears 
that they have not done so ; that Fort Gaines on the Chatahoocliy, and 
Camp Crawford on the Flint River, are botli on Indian territory that was 
not in possession of America in 1811. They are fearful that before any aid 
ia given by the English government they will be no longer in possession of 
any territory. 

"I wrote last January to his excellency the Hon. Charles Baggott re- 
specting the encroachments of the Americans, as I was informed by the 
copy of a letter from the right honorable Earl Bathurst, handed me by his 
excellency Governor Cameron, that his Majesty's embassador had received 
orders to watch over the interest of the Indians. Since my return here I 
have received of Mr. Moodie, of Charleston, an extract of a letter from the 
honorable Charles Baggott that the expense of postage is so considerable 
any further communications of the same nature must be sent him by pri- 
vate hands. Now, sir, as no person goes from this direct to Washington, 
how am I to be able to comply with his desire? Thus he will be kept 
ignorant of the situation of the poor Indians, and the encroachments daily 
made on their lands by American settlers, while he may be told by the 
American government that no encroachments have been made, and that 
the forts they still hold are still necessary to check the unruly Seminoles. 
Thus the person appointed to watch over the interest of the Indians, having 
no other means of information than from the parties interested in their de- 
struction, and seeing from time to time in the American gazettes accounts 
of cruel murders, etc., etc., committed by the Indians on the frontier set- 
tlements of the United States, he apprehends the Indians merit all the 
Americans do to them. 

"But let his -Majesty's government appoint an agent with full powers 
to correspond with his Majesty's embassador at Washington, and his eyea 
will then be opened as to the motives of that influence, American individ- 
uals as well as the government, in villifying the Indians. The power given 
me and the instructions were to memoriahze his Majesty's government, as 
well as the Governor General of Havana, but if you will be pleased to lay 
this letter before his Majesty's Secretary of State, it will save the necessity 
of the first, and I fear that a memorial to the Governor General would be 
of no use. Referring you to the annexed names, 

" I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"A. Arbuthnot. 

"Lieut. Col. Edward Nichoia" 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS. 417 

Whether these accusations against Hambly and Doyle had 
any foundation in truth, or whether they were based upon the 
misrepresentations of the Indians, or whether they were the 
offspring of prejudice on the part of a rival trader, I know not. 
Arbuthnot seems to have been strongly convinced of their 
truth, and deeply embittered against the two clerks. To Ham- 
bly, who had accused him of inciting the Indians to hostile 
acts, Arbuthnot indignantly retorted : " If your conduct, sir, 
to the Indians were guided by as pure motives as mine, you 
would endeavor to influence them to respect each other as 
brothers, and live in harmony and friendship, cultivating their 
lands in summer, and taking their diversions of hunting in 
winter, respecting their neighbors and making yourself re- 
spected by them. If thus, sir, you would act (and by your 
knowledge of their language you have much more in your 
power than any other man), you would then be the true friend 
of the Indians. Were I an instigator of theft and murder, 
would I hold the language I have done to the chiefs and others 
who have called on me ? Ask the lieutenant commanding at 
Fort Gaines if my letter to him breathed the strains of a 
murderer ? Ask Opy Hatchy, or Dany, his interpreter, if the 
recommendatory note I sent him by order of Apiny could be 
written by an instigator of murder ? Ask Apiny himself if 
my language to liiui was that of a murderer .^ Ask Mappa- 
litchy, a chief, residing among the Americans on Oakmulgee. 
if my language and advice to him favored that of a murderer? 
All those and every Indian who heard my talks will contra- 
dict your vile assertions." 

Arbuthnot alludes in this passage to a letter of his to 
the commandant of Fort Gaines. That letter was extremely 
creditable to Arbuthnot's heart, if less so to his judgment. It 
was written in the full belief that the lands north of the Florida 
line really belonged to the Seminoles. " The head chiefs," 
wrote Arbuthnot (March 3d, 1817), " request that I will in- 
quire of you why American settlers are descending the Chat- 
tahoochie, driving the poor Indian from his habitation, and 
faking possession of his home and cultivated fields.^ Without 
VOL. u. — 27 



418 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

authority I can claim nothing of you, but a humane and phil- 
anthropic principle guiding me, I hope the same will influ- 
ence you, and if such is really the case, and the line marked 
out by the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the 
United States respecting the Indian nations has been in- 
fringed upon by the subjects of the latter, that you will rep- 
resent to them their improper conduct, and prevent its con- 
tinuance."* 

It was in vain that Arbutlmot wrote and pleaded for his 
untutored friends. His letters in their behalf produced no 
effects whatever. He and the Seminoles were equally in the 
dark respecting the treaty of Fort Jackson and the claim of 
the Seminoles to the Creek lands. Arbuthnot trafficked and 
traded during the whole year, making occasionally a voyage 
in his schooner to Nassau, and filling up his leisure hours in 
writing letters for the Indians. Before the year closed Boleck 
and the other chiefs were considerably indebted to him for 
goods. This fact alone would have made a cautious trader 
the advocate of peace. 

We have alluded to the cargo of Arbuthnot's schooner, 
Chance. It remains to speak of her passengers. 

Early in the year came over one Peter Cook, as clerk to 
Arbuthnot, whom Arbuthnot afterwards discharged and made 
an enemy of. Later, a son of Arbuthnot came to assist his 
father in his Florida business. In September the schooner 
brought to Florida a passenger whom Arbuthnot always men- 
tions in his diary as " Captain W." The wary merchant did 
not like this Captain W., nor approve his proceedings. Cap- 
tain W., on reaching the coast, had a talk with some Semi- 
nole chiefs who came on board the schooner, in the course of 
which, it appears, he made large promises to them of British 
protection and bounty. " I take no notice," writes the pru- 
dent Arbuthnot in his log-book, " of Captain W.'s talk to the 
Indians, because I doubt much if what he stated was founded 
in fact, and was only mentioned by him to strengthen the 

* State ri\pors, 2d Session 15th Congress, Doc. 65, p. 210. 



1817.] THE SEMINOLES FIND NEW FRIENDS. 419 

2hiefs in their attachment to the British government, I say 
no further on this head. Of his promises I fear he has also 
gone too far; and perhaps at a future time, when the Indians 
find them unperformed, the rage for their disappointment 
may fall on me, as a party aiding and abetting Captain W. 
in his deception. I have gone beyond my promise to Captain 
AV. I have been deceived in almost every thing, and yet he 
thinks every thing and person must be subservient to him. I 
have had himself and aide-de-camp on board since the 31st 
August ; in any expedition, in canoe or boat, I have supplied 
his wants. I kept three negroes on board more than two 
months on his account. I presented the chiefs for him and 
on his account. I have seen my provisions taken and given 
away, when we were on short allowance ; for Captain W. 
gives liberally, when it is not out of his own pocket, but is 
extremely costive when anything is wanted from home." 

And who was Captain W. ? Captain W. was no other 
than that Captain Woodbine who, under the command of 
Colonel Nichols, drilled, organized, and led the Florida In- 
dians in 1814. He is so frequently styled, in the papers 
relating to Florida affairs of this period, the "Notorious 
Woodbine," that a foreign reader, imperfect in his English, 
might be led to suppose that notorious was part of the cap- 
tain's name. As we habitually speak of the venerable Bede 
and the judicious Hooker, feeling that these adjectives by 
mere length of tenure belong to those reverend persons, so 
writers on the affairs of Florida have felt it necessary to couple 
the name of Woodbine with the epithet notorious. If not 
notorious, then " infamous." Sometimes the obnoxious per- 
son is spoken of as " the notorious Woodbine, of infamous 
memory." But with all his notoriety it is difficult in the ex- 
treme to obtain the least approach to certainty as to his de- 
signs in Florida, and the particular object of his presence 
there in 1817. We know little more than that he had ob- 
tained from the Indians a grant of land in Florida ; that he 
came to Florida in September of this year; and that he sailed 
away again to New Providence, where he lived. About the 



420 LITE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

same time two Seminoles went to Nassau as a deputation to 
Cameron, the Governor of New Providence. The probability 
is that Woodbine was then a mere adventurer, whose sole 
interest and object in Florida was the lands which the In- 
dians had given him ; his possession of which depended upon 
Florida becoming a British, or remaining a Spanish, or be- 
coming an independent province. It was lucky, indeed, for 
Woodbine that he got safely out of Florida when he did. 
There was an individual residing in the neighborhood of 
Nashville who had recollections of this Captain W., and in 
whose mind he was never other than notorious. 

But the schooner brought to Florida another passenger, 
who came, as he said, " to attend to Captain Woodbine's 
business." This was that too famous Ambrister, afterwards 
associated with Arbuthnot in a terrible destiny. Ambrister 
had served four years as a midshipman in the English navy, 
and left the service before the war of 1812. He joined Nichols 
at New Providence, and served under him in Florida in the 
rank of lieutenant of marines ; wandering over half the globe 
after the war. Keappearing in Florida in the fall of 1817, 
but without a commission or any public object or official 
authorization, he acted the part of a most thoughtless, head- 
strong, lawless adventurer. Like Arbuthnot, whom he seems 
to have despised and plundered, he threw himself into the 
Indian cause and wrote letters in their behalf ; but, unlike 
Arbuthnot, he did all that in him lay to induce the Indians 
to resist the alleged encroachments of the Americans by force 
of arms. He flourished about in his uniform. He gave orders 
and assumed the airs of command. He wrote to his relative, 
Governor Cameron, asking him to send arms and ammunition 
to the Indians. He wrote to Nichols, telling him that three 
hundred blacks, " a few of our Bluff people" among them, 
had " stuck to the caus^," and expected him to come out and 
take their part, as he had promised. "Francis says," he 
added in a postscript, "you must bring the horses when you 
come out that you promised ; and that his house has beea 
burnt down, and burnt his uniform clothes." 



1817.] FILLIBUSTERS IN FLORIDA. 421 

The presence of sUch a man among the Seminoles, at a 
time when their minds had been long excited by dwelling 
upon and magnifying their grievances, real and imaginary, 
was almost enough of itself to precipitate hostilities. It is 
evident, nevertheless, that Ambrister was far more foolish than 
wicked. He knew not what he did. It was, probably, the 
vain and weak desire of cutting a figure among the Indians 
that led him to his doom. 

While thus, during the year 1817, affairs in Florida were 
approaching a crisis, and two nations were negotiating for the 
privilege of governing it, and three races were contending foi 
its possession, a nimble hand was stretched out from the sea, 
which made a vigorous clutch at the prize, with the design 
of balking all the contestants. 



CHAPTEK XXXIII. 

FILLIBUSTERS IN FLaRIDA. 

On the Atlantic coast of Florida there is an island fifteen 
miles long and four wide, called Amelia Island ; which now 
forms part of the county of Nassau, and shows to the Cali- 
fornia steamers a revolving light one hundred feet above the 
sea, visible at a distance of sixteen miles. There is a town 
upon this island, Fernandina by name, a flourishing place in 
the old embargo and privateering times, with occasionally 
three hundred square-rigged vessels in its harbor ; but now 
much fallen to decay. 

In June, 1817, a band of fillibusters landed upon Amelia 
Island. They were commanded by a personage once renowned, 
now forgotten, who was wont to announce himself to the 
universe as " Citizen Gregor McGregor, Brigadier General of 
the armies of the United Provinces of New Granada and 
Venezuela, and General-in-Chief of the armies of the Two 
Floridas, commissioned by the Supreme Directors of Mexico. 



422 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

South America, etc., etc." This gentleman (a Scottish baro- 
net, I believe, and man of fortune) was one of those European 
enthusiasts who went to the assistance of the Spanish prov- 
inces of America in their attempts to parody the American 
revolution. He wrote the most distinguished proclamations 
in their behalf Frustrated in his designs in South America, 
he sailed away in his own vessel, the General McGregor, to 
Baltimore ; where, gathering a band of " patriots" of all na- 
tions, he prepared to strike another blow at Spanish power by 
seizing Florida, His object, as he said to a friend in Balti- 
more before sailing, was to " take possession of Amelia, and 
thence to wrest the Floridas from Spain ; when he should 
immediately call on the inhabitants, by proclamation, to des- 
ignate some of their most respectable fellow-citizens to form 
a constitution on the model of some of the adjoining States. 
That, so ftir as it might depend on him, he would encourage 
the existing disposition of the people in that section to con- 
federate with the United States." Cuba, he thought, was 
ripe for revolution. Florida well seized, and used as a basis 
of operations, the Spanish power in America could not long 
sustain itself 

Arriving at Amelia Island with about fifty followers, he 
promptly effected his purpose of publishing a proclamation, 
in the course of which he remarked that he hoped to " plant 
the Green Cross of Florida on the proud walls of St. Augus- 
tine," and desired the whole of Florida to consider itself, and 
to be considered, in a state of blockade. Nature is chary of 
her gifts. When she endows a man with the capacity of pro- 
ducing proclamations of that kind, she denies him the ability 
to carry them into effect. Exhausted in the effort of com- 
position, he achieves nothing more. It will not astonish the 
philosophic reader, therefore, to learn that Citizen Gregor 
McGregor did not perform the horticultural feat of converting 
the Green Cross of Florida into a wall-flower at St. Augus- 
tine ; nor did he succeed in convincing any portion of the 
maritime public that he had blockaded Florida with his pri- 
vate yacht, the General McGregor. On the contrary, the port 



1817.] FILUBUSTEBS IN FLORIDA. 42S 

of Fernandina remained the resort of privateersmen and 
slavers. Citizen McGregor, not prospering in his revolution, 
owing, as he said, to the want of men and money, listened to 
the counsels of the " Notorious Woodbine," who visited the 
Island of Amelia soon after the an-ival of the patriots. 
" Woodbine/' wrote a gentleman on the island to the Secre- 
tary of War, " persuaded McGregor that he could find friends 
and funds in New Providence, and that a British regiment had 
lately been disbanded there ; that they would pick up as many 
of the soldiers as possible, and with what negroes and others 
they could gather, would make a tolerable force. They were 
then to sail for Tampa Bay, a fine harbor to the northwest- 
ward of Cape Florida, where they were to be joined by fifteen 
hundred Indians, already engaged to Woodbine, and invade 
Florida from that point. They are then to march across, and 
attack St. Augustine."* 

In the month of September, Woodbine, Citizen Gregor 
McGregor and his " lady," went to New Providence in the 
schooner General McGregor, but returned not to decorate the 
proud walls of St. Augustine. In December, McGregor wrote 
to his Baltimore friend : " I leave this day for England, to 
ari-ange my private afiairs, which, from the many years that 
I have been in South America, have not improved by my 
absence. My family remains here until my return." And so 
vanishes into the blue ocean the vague, imposing form of 
Brigadier General Sir Gregor McGregor. 

But his followers remained upon Amelia Island. They 
were soon joined by Commodore Aury, another " patriot" in 
the service of the Mexican Kepublic, which was struggling 
then to proclaim itself into existence. With Commodore 
Aury came a hundred and fifty patriots and several vessels. 
Aury, who seems to have been a man of honor, sincerely de- 
voted to the cause, strove for some months to continue and 
do the work which McGregor's proclamation had announced. 
He proceeded to form a provisional government ; caused a 
legislature to be elected ; set a committee at work drawing up 
* State Papers, 2d Session 15th Congress, vol iv., Doc. 65, p. 190, 



^4 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

a constitution, and invited all Florida to join in the great 
business of throwing oiF the Spanish yoke. He was attacked 
at Fernandina by a Spanish force. A report • reached the 
United States that he had been defeated, and that the Span- 
ish general had cut off fifteen pairs of patriot ears, which the 
Governor of Pensacola had bought at the extravagant rate of 
lifty dollars per pair. But the truth was far otherwise. Aury 
beat off the Spanish troops, and the Green Cross still waved 
in triumph over Fernandina. 

It was a most motley and miscellaneous crew that Commo- 
dore Aury found himself associated with upon the island of 
Amelia. There were British adventurers of the Woodbine 
and Ambrister stamp ; Irish and French refugees ; Scotch 
enthusiasts ; Mexican and Spanish patriots ; several of La- 
fitte's Baratarian band ; a company of negro troops who had 
served in Mexico under Aury ; the original inhabitants of 
Fernandina ; and large numbers of privateersmen, slavers, 
and other seafaring scoundrels. And when it is stated that 
one of the first acts of the fiUibusters was the establishment 
of a NEWSPAPER, no one will need to be told that there were 
Americans among them. 

Commodore Aury was soon immersed in a sea of difficul- 
ties. The fiUibusters fell to quarreling with one another. 
There were two parties, and each party had its factions. One 
party was composed of those who were earnestly intent on. 
wresting the province from Spain, and making it an indepen- 
dent republic. This was unquestionably the object of Com- 
modore Aury. "I came," said Aury in one of his addresses 
to the " legislature," " to assist General McGregor in liberat- 
ing the Floridas, thereby drawing the attention of our com- 
mon enemy, and attacking the tyrant in his other possessions ; 
convinced that the independence of the two Floridas once se- 
cured, forces could be raised which, united with those of the 
other chiefs, might strike a decisive blow to tyranny. My con- 
duct, since my anival at Ameha, is so well known to you all, 
gentlemen, that it requires no mention to be made of it, I will 
only ask whether, in any one single instance, I have deviated 



1817.] FILLIBUSTEES IN FLORIDA. 425 

from the principles which might insure liberty to our op- 
pressed brethren, and give succor to Mexican patriots, who, 
in spite of repeated disasters, still rise with redoubled enthu- 
Biaem in defense of their sacred rights." 

The other party seems to have been composed of those 
who wished to use their temporary possession of Amelia island 
and its harbor for the purpose of smuggling into the United 
States the cargoes of the privateers, and for the still more 
nefarious object of landing and selling slaves from the African 
coast. Whatever the cause of quarrel, the factions, we are 
told, were soon " at daggers' points," and the island was a 
scene of riot and bloodshed for several days. 

In these disheartening circumstances Commodore Aury 
resorted to the expedient that suggests itself to the " patriot" 
mind in all difficulties. He issued a proclamation. He 
dated it " November 5, 1817, and year one of independence."* 
He declared martial law for ten days. Quiet was restored at 

* The following is a copy of Commodore Aury's proclamation : " Inhabitants 
of Fernandina ! For days past you have witnessed the scandalous transactions of 
a faction composed of men who, existing and tolerated on this island by our gen- 
erosity, have solely been engaged in subverting social order. They are mercen- 
aries, traitors, or cowards, who abandoned the cause of republicanism in the hour 
of danger, and who, either hired by our enemies, or misled by tlic intrigues of a few 
aspiring individuals, have attempted to involve us in all the complicated horrors 
of a civil war. Citizens, we are republicans from principle, our fortunes have been 
spent, and our lives oft exposed for this most glorious cause. "We have come here 
to plant the tree of liberty, to foster free institutions, and to wage war against the 
tyrant of Spain, the oppressor of America and the enemy of the rights of man. 
We are ever ready to pay obedience to the principles of republicanism, but finnly 
determined never to adhere to the dictates of a faction. 

" When the heat of passion shall be no more, when public peace and tran- 
quility are restored, we shall see with a lively pleasure the establishment of 9 
provisional government most suitable to our common interest, and to the ao- 
vancement of our glorious cause. 

" Americans, Englishmen, Irishmen, and Frenchmen, men of all nations, W9 
are freemen ; let us for ever be united by the love of liberty and hatred to tyranny. 

" Soldiers and sailors, martial law is declared to be in force for ten days. Let 
us give to cur brethren of the Floridas proofs of our militaiy discipline, and of oui 
respect for the property of the inhabitants. 

" Headquarters of Fernandina, November 5, 1817, and year one of indepen« 
ience. " Louis Adrt " 



426 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

length, and the commodore and his legislature continued the 
work of foiming a government and drawing up a constitu- 
tion. 

The rest of this episode in the history of Florida is soon 
told, A considerable portion of the Kepublican party of the 
United States were disposed at first to sympathize with and 
aid the revolutionists. But the reports of the landing of . 
slaves, of the smuggling of merchandise, and the dissensions 
of the band, soon changed this feeling into contempt and dis- 
gust. President Monroe and his cabinet had begun to regard 
Florida as their own. Even the sum of money to be paid by 
the United States for its purchase had been agreed upon and 
published in all the newspapers. The government looked to 
see the Spanish authorities expel the invaders. When, how- 
ever, they learned that the forces of Spain (a rabble of In- 
dians, Spaniards, and negroes) had been defeated by the filli- 
busters, and had given up the island to them after a loss of 
only half a dozen killed and wounded, they deemed it their 
duty to do what Spain evidently could not do. Land and 
naval forces were dispatched to Amelia Island late in the year 
1817, with orders to remove the invaders — peacefully if they 
could, forcibly if they must. Commodore Aury made no re- 
sistance. He asked a few weeks of delay, which were granted. 
Early in the spring of 1818 the revolutionists took their peace- 
ful departure ; the flag of the United States replaced the 
green cross, and troops of the United States- garrisoned Fer- 
nandina, in trust for his Catholic Majesty of Spain. 

The reader is now prepared to follow understandingly, 
with little further digression or explanation, the events in 
Florida which were controlled by General Jackson. The 
scene is set; the tragedy may begin. 



1817. ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN. 427 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

November. Alarm pervades the frontiers of Georgia, 
The Seminolos are sullen and savage. During the autumn 
there have been outrages and murders. White men have 
killed and plundered Indians ; Indians have killed and plun- 
dered white men. United States troops again occupy Fort 
Scott and the other posts near the junction of the Chatta- 
hoochie and Flint. A body of Georgia militia are in the 
field, called out to assist in expelling the fillibusters from 
Amelia. Boat loads of provisions and munitions are ascend- 
ing the Appalachicola once more. There is a bustle of war- 
like preparation all along the rivers and the line that divides 
Florida and Georgia. There are Seminole villages on both 
sides of that line, some of which are friendly to the whites, 
others hostile. 

But as late as the middle of November, despite the inita- 
tion, the resentments, the alarms, no act of war has been 
done on either side. The outrages have been the work of 
individuals and small parties. As between the United States 
and the Seminoles there is peace. 

General Edmund P. Gaines still commands in this quar- 
ter. During the year he has been "talking" with the sullen 
chiefs, from time to time, assuming in his talks that the In- 
dians were wholly in fault. This was one of his talks : 
" Your Seminoles are very bad people. I don't say whom. 
You have murdered many of my people, and stolen my cattle 
and many good horses that cost me money ; and many good 
houses that cost me money you have burned for me ; and 
now that you see my writing, you will think that I have 
spoken right. I know it is so, you know it is so ; for now 
you may say I will go upon you at random. But just give 
me the murderers, and I will show them my law ; and when 
that is finished and past, if you will come about any of my 



428 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

people, you will see your friends, and if you see me you will 
see your friend. But there is something out in the sea, a 
bird with a forked tongue ; whip him back before he lands, 
for he will be the ruin of you. Yet perhaps you do not know 
who or what I mean — I mean the name of Englishman. I 
tell you this, that if you do not give me up the murderers 
who have murdered my people, I say I have got good strong 
warriors with scalping knives and tomakawks. You harbor 
a great many of my black people among you, at Sahwahnee. 
If you give me leave to go by you against them, I shall not 
hurt any thing belonging to you /' 

To which the chief, " King Hatchy," haughtily replied : 
" You charge me with killing your people, stealing your cat- 
tle, and burning your houses. It is I that have cause to 
complain of the Americans. While one American has been 
justly killed, while in the act of stealing cattle, more than 
four Indians have been murdered while hunting by these 
lawless freebooters, I harbor no negroes. When the English- 
men were at war with America, some took shelter among 
them, and it is for you white people to settle those things 
among yourselves, and not trouble us with what we know 
nothing about. I shall use force to stop any armed Ameri- 
cans from passing my towns or my lands." 

Such was the humor of the two races in the autumn of 
1817. 

Fourteen miles east of Fort Scott, in Georgia, but near 
the Florida line, on lands claimed by the United States un- 
der the treaty of Fort Jackson, was a Seminole village, called 
by the settlers Fowltown. The chief of this village of forty- 
five warriors was supposed to be, and was, peculiarly embit- 
tered against the whites. The red war-pole had been erected 
by his warriors, around which they danced the war-dance. 
The Fowltown chief was resolved to hold his lands, and resist 
by force any further encroachments, and had said as much to 
Colonel Twiggs, the commandant of Fort Scott. " I warn 
you," he said to Colonel Twiggs, early in November, "not to 
cross, nor cut a stick of wood on the east side of the Flint. 



1817.] ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN. 429 

That land is mine. I am directed by the powers above and 
the powers below to protect and defend it. I shall do so." A 
few days after General Gaines arrived at Fort Scott with a 
reinforcement of regular troops, when the talk of the Fowl- 
town chief was reported to him. General Gaines, " to ascer- 
tain," as he said, " whether his hostile temper had abated," 
had previously sent a runner to the chief to request him to 
come to him at Fort Scott. The chief replied, " I have al- 
ready said to the officer commanding at the fort all I have to 
say. I will not go." 

General Gaines immediately detached a force of two 
hundred and fifty men, under command of Colonel Twiggs, 
with orders "to bring to me the chief and his warriors, 
and, in the event of resistance, to treat them as ene- 
mies."^' 

On the morning of November 21st, before the dawn of 
day, the detachment reached Fowltown. The warriors fired 
upon the troops without waiting to learn their errand. It 
could not be expected to occur to the benighted Seminole 
mind that a large body of troops arriving near their town in 
the darkness of a November morning could have any but a 
hostile errand. The fire of the Indians, which was wholly 
without efiect, was " briskly returned" by the troops, when 
the Indians took to flight, with the loss of two men killed 
and one women, besides several wounded. Colonel Twiggs 
entered and searched the abandoned town. Among other 
articles found in the house of the chief were a scarlet coat of 
the British uniform, a pair of golden epaulets, and a cer- 
tificate, in the handwriting of Colonel Nichols, declaring that 
the Fowltown chief had ever been a true and faithful friend 
of the British. Colonel Twiggs took post near the town, 
erected a temporary stockade, and waited for further orders. 
Shortly afterwards the town was burnt by General Gaines 
himself. 

The die was cast. The revenge of the Seminoles for this 

♦ Dispatch of Gainea to Secretary of "War, November 21, 1817. 



430 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817, 

seizure of Fowltown,* and the slaughter of its warriors and 
the woman, was swift, bloody, and atrocious. 

Nine days after, a large open boat, containing forty United 
States troops, seven soldiers' wives and four little children, 
under command of Lieutenant Scott, of the 7th infantry, was 
warping slowly up the Appalachicola river. They were within 
one mile of reaching the junction of the Chattahoochie and 
Flint, and not many miles from Fort Scott, To avoid the 
swift current, the soldiers kept the boat close to the shore. 
They were passing a swamp, densely covered with trees and 
cane. Suddenly, at a moment when not a soul on board sus- 
pected danger, for not an Indian, nor trace of an Indian had 
been seen, a heavy volley of musketry, from the thickets 
within a few yards of the boat, was fired full into the closely- 
compacted party. Lieutenant Scott and nearly evei*y man in 
the boat were killed or badly wounded at the first fire. Other 
volleys succeeded. The Indians soon rose from their ambush 
and rushed upon the boat with a fearful yell. Men, women 
and children were involved in one horrible massacre, or spared 
for more horrible torture. The children were taken by the 

* Among the proofs that the attack upon Fowltown was the direct and im- 
mediate cause of the Seminole war, the following extract from General D. M. 
Mitchell's deposition on the subject before a committee of the United States Sen- 
ate, February, 1819, is one of the most conclusive: "About the 1st of August, 
1817, 1 received a letter from Major Twiggs, then at Fort Scott, dated the 4th of 
that month, written, as he says, ot the request of the chiefs of three towns near 
that place, expressive of their willingness to agree to the talk delivered by me in 
July at Fort Hawkins. Of the three towns referred to the Fowltown was one. 
but before I had an opportunity of sending for those chiefs, or of taking any 
measures for meeting their proposition, General Gaines arrived with a detach- 
ment of troops from the West, sent for the chief of Fowltown, and for his con- 
tumacy in not immediately appearing before him, the town was attacked and de- 
stroyed by the troops of the United States by order of General Gaines. This flict 
was, I conceive, the immediate cause of the Seminole war. The reasons assigned 
for the destruction of Fowltown, in addition to the contumacy of the chief, were, 
tiie refusal of the chiefs of the Seminoles to give up some murderers, and the hos- 
tile aspect which they had assumed. Of this demand and refusal I know nothing 
more than what has been published, but truth compels me to say, that before the 
attack on Fowltown aggressions of this kind were as frequent on the part of the 
whites as on the part of the Indians, the evidence of which can be furnished from 
fili^s of the executive of Georgia." 



1817.] ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN. 431 

heels and their brains dashed out against the sides of the boat. 
The men and women were scalped, all but one woman, whc 
was not wounded by the previous fire. Four men escaped by 
leaping overboard and swimming to the opposite shore, of 
whom two only reached Fort Scott uninjured. Laden with 
plunder, the savages reentered the wilderness, taking with 
them the woman whom they had spared. In twenty minutes 
after the first volley was fired into the boat, every creature in 
it but five was killed and scalped, or bound and carried ofi". 

The Seminoles had tasted blood, and thirsted like tigers 
for more. Still haunting the banks of the river, they attacked, 
a few days later, a convoy of ascending boats, under Major 
Muhlenburgh, killing two soldiers and wounding thirteen. 
For four or five days and nights the boats lay in the middle 
of the stream, immoveable ; for not a man could show him- 
himself for an instant above the bulwarks without being fired 
upon. With difficulty, and after great sufiering on the part 
of the sick and wounded, the fleet was rescued from its hor- 
rible situation by a party from Fort Scott. 

About the same time a party of Seminoles, under the 
command of the Fowltown chief, surprized Hambly and 
Doyle, the clerks so obnoxious to the Indians and to Ar- 
buthnot, and broke up their establishment on the Appala- 
chicola. The house and store of the clerks were plundered 
of all their valuable contents, and themselves carried away 
prisoners to the southward. The Indians, then and after- 
wards, declared that these men were the cause of all their 
troubles. 

The prophet-chief, Francis, was soon in the field. A 
party under his command surprized a Georgia militia man, 
named M'Krimmon, while he was fishing, and carrying him 
off into the interior doomed him to the stake. Stripped, 
shaved, bound, and surrounded with fagots, the Indians 
whooping and dancing around him, he stood awaiting the 
application of the torch, when Milly Francis, the youngest 
(laughter of the chief, a girl of fifteen, implored the life of the 
prisoner. She fell upon her knees before her father, it is said, 



432 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

and entreated liim to show mercy. He yielded at length, and 
M'Kriramon escaped a terrible doom, and was deliverered up 
to the Spanish commandant at Fort St. Marks. 

Before the year closed Fort Scott itself was threatened. 
A desultory and ineffectual fire was kept up upon it for sev- 
eral days. The garrison being short of provisions, and form- 
ing a most exaggerated estimate of the numbers of the 
enemy, feared to be obliged to abandon the post. 

This was war indeed. The government at Washington 
was promptly informed of these terrible events • by General 
Gaines, who advised the most vigorous measures of retalia- 
tion. "I am now quite convinced," said he, " that the hos- 
tility of these Indians is and has long since been of so deep a 
character as to leave no ground to calculate upon tranquillity, 
or the future security of our frontier settlements, until the 
towns south and east of this place shall receive a signal proof 
of our ability and willingness to retaliate for every outrage.^' 
The Seminoles, he added, were puffed up with conceit, and 
were laboring under a fatal delusion of receiving aid from the 
British. They felt sure of being able to beat the Americans. 
" They assert that we have never beaten their people except 
when we have been assisted by ' red people.' " General 
Gaines estimated the number of the Seminole warriors at 
twenty-seven hundred. 

It chanced that just before these dispatches reached 
Washington, the Secretary of War, Mr. J. C. Calhoun, not 
anticipating serious trouble from the Indians, had sent orders 
to General Gaines to proceed to Amelia Island, to cooperate 
with the naval forces in the expulsion of the revolutionists^ 
General Gaines was accordingly compelled to leave the fron- 
tiers at a time when his presence there was most needed. 
The government, fearing the effect at such a moment of the 
absence of a general officer from the scene of hostilities, re- 
solved upon ordering General Jackson to take command in 
person of the troops upon the frontiers of Georgia. 

General Jackson had been watching the course of events 
in the southeast with an attentive and earnest mind. The 



1837.] ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN. 433 

dispatches of General Gaines to the War Department, and 
the orders of the Department to General Gaines, had been 
duly forwarded to him. He had arrived at one very clear 
Hud correct opinion. So long as the Spaniards hold Florida, 
he thought, there will be trouble between the Seminoles and 
the settlers upon the Georgia frontiers. The government, 
anxious for the speedy conclusion of the pending negotiation 
for the purchase of Florida, had forbidden General Gaines to 
pursue the Seminoles into Florida. Afterwards, when the 
news of the massacre of Lieutenant Scott reached Washing- 
ton, they had authorized Gaines to cross the line, provided 
the hostile Indians could be reached and punished in no other 
way. But 07i no account was General Gaines to molest or 
threaten a Spanish post ! If the hostile Indians took refuge 
within a Spanish fortress, he was to relinquish the pursuit, 
and take no further step luithout receiving neio and explicit 
orders from the Department of War. 

Upon perusing these orders to General Gaines, General 
Jackson was moved to write to President Monroe a confiden- 
tial letter upon the subject, of which a copy is subjoined. 
This letter, be it observed, was written after the dispatch 
orderins: General Jackson to the scene of war had left Wash- 
ington, but before it had reached the Hermitage. The orders 
of the War Department to General Jackson, and this confi- 
dential letter from General Jackson to the President, passed 
each other about midway between Nashville and Washington. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

"Nashville, 6th January, 1818. 
" Sir : A few days since I received a letter from the Secretary of War, 
of the 17th ult., with inclosures. Your order of the 19th ult. through him 
to Brevet Major General Gaines to enter the territory of Spain, and chas- 
tise the ruthless savages who have been depredating on the property and 
lives of our citizens, will meet not only the approbation of your country, 
but the approbation of Heaven. WUl you, however, permit me to suggest 
the- catastrophe that might arise by General Gaine's compliance with the 
last clause of your order? Suppose the case that the Indians are beaten* 
they take refuge either in Pensacola or St. Augustine, which open their 
VOL II. — 28 



434 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

gates to t.iem ; to profit by his victory, G-eneral Gaines pursues the fugi- 
lives, and has to halt before the garrison until he can communicate with 
his government. In the meantime the militia grow restless, and he is left 
to defend himself by the regulars. The enemy, with the aid of their Spanish 
friends and Woodbine's British partizans, or, if you please, with Aury's 
force, attacks him. What may not be the result ? Defeat and massacre. 
Permit me to remark that the arms of the United States must be carried 
to any point within the Hmits of East Florida, where an enemy is permitted 
and protected, or disgrace attends. 

"The executive government have ordered, and, as I conceive, very 
properly, Amelia Island to be taken possession of. This order ought to be 
carried into execution at all hazards, and simultaneously the whole of East 
Florida seized, and held as an indemnity for the outrages of Spain upon the 
property of our citizens, Tliis done, it puts all opposition down, secures 
our citizens a complete indemnity, and saves us from a war with Great 
Britain, or some of the continental powers combined with Spain. This can 
be done without implicating the government. Let it he signified to me 
through any channel {say Mr. J. Rhea) that the possession of the Floridaa 
would he desirahle to the United States^ and in sixty days it wiU he accom- 
plished, 

" The order being given for the possession of Amelia Island, it ought to 
be executed, or our enemies, internal and external, will use it to the dis- 
advantage of the government. If our troops enter the territory of Spain in 
pursuit of our Indian enemy, all opposition that they meet with must be 
put down, or we will be involved in danger and disgrace. 
"I have the honor, etc., 

" Andrew Jackson. 
" Hon. James Monroe, 

" President United States."* 

Before proceeding further let us trace the history of this 
important letter. Mr. Monroe, in one of his later letters to 
General Jackson, told him in what circumstances it was re- 
ceived. " Your letter of January 6th," wrote the President, 
" was received while I was seriously indisposed. Observing 
that it was from you, I handed it to Mr. Calhoun to read, 
after reading one or two lines only myself The order to you 
to take command in that quarter had before been issued. He 
remarked, after perusing the letter, that it was a confidential 
one relating to Florida, tvhich I must answer." 

♦From General Jackson's "Exposition" of his conduct in Florida in Benton's 
Thirty Years' View, L, 170. 



1817.] ATTACK UPON FOWL TOWN. 435 

Many years after, Mr. Monroe wrote to Mr. Calhoun : " f 
well remember that when I received the letter from General 
Jackson of the 6th of January, 1818, I was sick in bed, and 
could not read it. You were either present, or came in im- 
mediately afterwards, and I handed it to you for perusal. 
After reading it, you replaced it with a remark that it required 
my attention, or would require an answer ; but without any 
notice of its contents. Mr. Crawford came in soon afterwards, 
and I handed it also to him for perusal. He read it, and re- 
turned it in like manner, without making any comment on 
its contents, further than that it related to the Seminole war, 
or something to that effect. I never showed it to any other 
person, and I am not certain whether it was he or you who 
observed that it related to the Seminole war. Having made 
all the arrangements respecting that war, and being some time 
confined by indisposition, the letter was laid aside and forgot- 
ten by me, and I never read it until after the conclusion of 
the war, and then I did it on an intimation from you that it 
required my attention. You ask whether that letter was be- 
fore the cabinet in the deliberation on the dispatches received 
from the General communicating the result of that war, or 
alluded to by any member in the administration. My im- 
pression decidedly is, that it was not before the cabinet, nor 
do I recollect or think that it was alluded to in the delibera- 
tions on the subject."* 

General Jackson himself, in his " Exposition," prepared 
for publication in his lifetime, but not published till after his 
death, tells the rest of this remarkable letter's remarkable his- 
tory. " Availing himself," says General Jackson, " of the 
suggestion contained in the letter, Mr. Monroe sent for Mr, 
John Rhea (then a member of Congress), showed him the 
confidential letter, and requested him to answer it. In con- 
formity with this request, Mr. Rhea did answer the letter, 
and informed General Jackson that the President had shown 
him the confidential letter, and requested him to state that 
he approved of its suggestions. This answer was received bv 

»Mr. Monroe to Mr. Calhoun, May 19th, 1830. 



436 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817 

the General on the second night he remained at Big Creek, 
which is four miles in advance of Hartford, Georgia, and he- 
fore his arrival at Fort Scott to take command of the troops 
in that quarter." 

But what became of Mr. Khea's letter ? Why has that 
never been produced, since its production would have silenced 
the thousand tongues that so loudly condemned General Jack- 
son for the conduct which it authorized ? The General an- 
swers this question : "About the time (February 24th, 1819) 
Mr. Lacock made his report (to the Senate — adverse to Jack- 
son) General Jackson and Mr. Rhea were both in the city of 
Washington. Mr. Rhea called on General Jackson, as he 
said, at the request of Mr. Monroe, and begged him on his 
return home to burn his reply. He said the President feared 
that by the death of General Jackson, or some other accident, 
it might fall into the hands 'of those who would make an im- 
proper use of it. He therefore conjured him by the friendship 
which had always existed between them (and by his obliga- 
tions as a brother mason) to destroy it on his return to Nash- 
ville. Believing Mr. Monroe and Mr. Calhoun to be his de- 
voted friends, and not deeming it possible that any incident 
could occur which would require or justify its use, he gave 
Mr. Rhea the promise he solicited, and accordingly, after his 
return to Nashville, he burnt Mr. Rhea's letter, and on his 
letter book, opposite the copy of his confidential letter to Mr. 
Monroe, made this entry : 'ifr. Rhea's letter in answer is 
burnt this I2th April, 1819.' "» 

Mr. Rhea, we must add, was an aged member of Congress 
from Tennessee, an intimate and confidential friend of General 
Jackson and of the administration. But three persons ever 
saw his letter to the General, namely, himself. General Jack- 
son and Judge Overton. Rhea and Overton both wrote state- 
ments supporting that of General Jackson. But it is unfor- 
tunate that neither of these gentlemen should have endeavored 
to give, from memory, an outline of the contents of the miss- 
ing document. After reading the letter, Mr. Calhoun says, 
* Exposition. Benton's Thirty Years, L, 179, 



18l7.] ATTACK UPON FOWLTOWN. 437 

" I thought no moie of.it. Long after, I think it was at the 
commencement of the next session of Congress, I heard some 
allusion which brought that letter to my recollection. It was 
from a quarter which induced me to believe that it came from 
Mr. Crawford. I called and mentioned it to Mr. Monroe, and 
found that he had entirely forgotten the letter. After search- 
ing some time he found it among some other papers, and read 
it, as he told me, for the first time." 

There is a discrepancy here, which has not been, and can 
not be explained. It does not appear that Mr. Monroe ever 
admitted having authorized Mr. Khea to answer the confiden- 
tial letter. There is no allusion to the circumstance in any 
published letter of his that I have been able to discover. 
Whether to attribute his silence to forgetfulness or to dis- 
cretion, I know not. 

But, aside from all questions of this kind, would any one 
believe that an affair of such vast importance, which came 
within a lifting of the finger (so said the prime minister of 
England) of involving two nations in war, could be treated so 
lightly ? Was Andrew Jackson an edged tool that could be 
safely played with ? He was in earnest when he wrote that 
letter to the President. He meant every word of it. He 
looked upon himself, and rightly, as the custodian of the 
southern frontiers, whose tranquility, he well knew, no vigil- 
ance could secure as long as a Spanish governor ruled, and 
British adventurers conspired, in Florida. Upon the receipt 
of a letter like that, from such a man as he, one would have 
supposed that the whole available wisdom of the government 
would have been brought to bear upon it, and the answer 
most carefully considered and most swiftly dispatched. Mr. 
John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State, who had the 
foreign affairs of the country in his special charge, who had 
to bear the brunt of the consequences of General Jackson's 
measures, never so much as heard of it till the subsequent 
diplomatic battle had been fought and won. 

Meanwhile the order of the Secretary of War to General 
Jackson to take command in the southeast was speeding on 



438 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

its way. That order, dated December 26th, 1817, was in the 
words following : " You will repair, with as little delay as 
practicable, to Fort Scott, and assume the immediate com- 
mand of the forces in that quarter of the southern division. 
The increasing display of hostile intentions by the Seminole 
Indians may render it necessary to concentrate all the con- 
tiguous disposable force of your division upon that quarter. 
The regular force now there is about eight hundred strong, 
and one thousand militia of the State of Georgia are called 
into service. General Gaines estimates the strength of the 
Indians at twenty-seven hundred. Should you be of opinion 
that our numbers are too small to beat the enemy, you will 
call on the executives of the adjacent States for such an ad- 
ditional militia force as you may deem requisite. General 
Gaines had been ordered early in last month to repair to 
Amelia Island. It is presumed that he had therefore relin- 
quished the command at Fort Scott. Subsequent orders have 
been issued to the General (copies of which will be furnished 
to you) advising him that you would be directed to take 
command, and directing him to reassume, should he deem the 
public interest to require it, the command at Fort Scott until 
you should arrive there. If, however, the General should have 
progressed to Florida before the subsequent orders may have 
reached him, he was instructed to penetrate the Seminole 
towns through Florida, provided the strength of his command 
at Amelia would justify his engaging in offensive operations. 
With this view you may be prepared to concentrate your foice 
and to adopt the necessary measures to terminate a conflict 
which it has ever been the desire of the President, from con- 
siderations of humanity, to avoid, but which is now made 
necessary by their settled hostilities." 

General Gaines was complimented upon his conduct, and 
care was taken to avoid the appearance of his being super- 
seded. " As soon as it was known," wrote the Secretary of 
War to General Gaines, " that you had repaired to Amelia 
Island in obedience to orders, and it being uncertain how long 
you might be detained there, the state of things at Fort Scott 



1818.] ''promptitude." 439 

made it necessary to order General Jackson to take command 
there. From his known promptitude, it is presumable that 
his arrival may be soon expected, and, in the mean time, full 
confidence is placed in your well established militaiy talents. 
I hope the junction of the militia will enable you to carry on 
oifensive operations and to restrain the enemy from depreda- 
tions on the frontier." 

Arbuthnot still strove to save the doomed Seminoles from 
the consequences of their rash and bloody deeds. As late as 
January 19th, 1818, we find him writing on their behalf to 
General D. M. Mitchell, then the agent of' the United States 
for the Greeks. " In taking this liberty of addressing you, sir," 
he wrote, " in behalf of the unfortunate Indians, believe me 
I have no wish but to see an end put to a war which, if per- 
sisted in, I foresee must eventually be then ruin ; and as they 
were not the aggressors, if, in the height of their rage, they 
committed any excesses, that you will overlook them, as the 
just ebullitions of an indignant spirit against an invading 
foe." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

"promptitude." 

Late in the evening of January 11th the express bearing 
the orders of Mr. Calhoun to General Jackson, after a ride of 
fifteen days, reached the Hermitage. Before he slept that 
night the General had concluded upon his plan of operations. 
His plan was that of a man un trammeled by red tape and 
unacquainted with the art of " How not to do it." 

There are now in the field, Mr. Calhoun said, eight hun- 
dred regular troops and a thousand Georgia militia. If you 
think these forces insufficient, call on " the executives of the 
adjacent States for such additional militia as you may deem 
requisite." Adjacent ! Adjacent to what ? There was but 
one State adjacent to Florida, Georgia, namely, and the mili- 



440 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1818. 

tia of Georgia were already in the field. Alabama was not 
yet a State. It did not cost General Jackson any computa- 
ble period of time to decide that the " additional militia of 
the adjacent States" meant a thousand mounted volunteers 
from West Tennessee and Kentucky, the men with whom he 
had fought the Creeks and the British in the last war. But 
ho was to call upon the ''executives of the adjacent States." 
Tlie Governor of Tennessee, as it chanced, was absent from 
Nashville on a tour of the Cherokee country near Knoxville, 
;ind it was not known either where he was or when he would 
return.'"" 

General Jackson took the responsibility. He sent pri- 
vately to a number of his old volunteer officers, and requested 
them to meet him at Nashville. They assembled at the time 
appointed. They embraced his scheme without a dissentient 
voice, and separated to carry it into effect. The General 
issued one of his spirit-stirring addresses, and the yeomen of 
West Tennessee were eager to mount and follow him to the 
end of the world. On the last day of January, twenty days 
after the General had received Mr. Calhoun's dispatch, and 
twelve days after the meeting of the officers at Nashville, two 
regiments of mounted men, numbering more than a thousand, 
assembled at the old rendezvous of Fayetteville, Tennessee, 
ready to march. One hundred of these went from Nashville 
alone. Twenty days' rations were ordered to be distributed 
to this force. They were placed under the command of In- 
spector-General Hayne, who was directed to march them with 
all dispatch to Fort Jackson, whence, with a fresh supply of 
provisions, they were to be led to Fort Scott. General Jack- 
son himself would proceed to Fort Scott at an earlier date by 
a directer route, and at greater speed, accompanied only by 
two companies as a " guard." From Fort Scott the combined 
forces of Tennessee and Georgia, with the regular troops, 
would sweep down into Florida, and, unless the Spaniards 
behaved unexpectedly well, overrun that province and hold 
it for the United States. 

* General Jackson's Memorial. Senate, 1820. 



1818.] ''promptitude." 441 

The Governor of Tennessee approved General Jackson's 
measures. The Secretary of War approved them. " The 
measures you have taken," wrote Mr. Calhoun on the 24th 
of January, " to bring an efficient force into the field are ap- 
probated, and a confident hope is entertained that a speedy 
and successful termination of the Indian war will follow your 
exertions." He wrote again to the same eflect on the sixth 
of January. He wrote subsequently to the Governor of Ala- 
bama, that " General Jackson is vested with full powers to 
conduct the war in the manner he may judge best." How 
General Jackson judged the war ought to be conducted, Gen- 
eral Jackson's confidential letter to Mr. Monroe had already 
informed the Secretary of War. 

On the twenty-second of January, General Jackson and 
his " guard" left Nashville amid the cheers of the entire pop- 
ulation. The distance from Nashville to Fort Scott is about 
four hundred and fifty miles. A march of eighteen days 
brought the General to Fort Hawkins, in the northern part 
of Georgia, where he heard ill news from the frontier. Part 
of the Georgia militia had abandoned the war and returned 
home. Fort Scott was starving. The contractors, as usual, 
had failed to supply provisions. But the quartermaster of 
General Gaines had succeeded in purchasing eleven hundred 
hogs, with which, if a little corn could be added, the General 
hoped to keep the army alive till the provisions he had or- 
dered from New Orleans could arrive. 

He |)ushed on to Hartford, a village of northern Georgia, 
two days' march from Fort Hawkins. There he met General 
Gaines, with a body of newly-raised Georgia militia, and 
there General Jackson wrote a dispatch to the Secretary of 
War, denouncing the system of supplying armies by contract. 
It might answer, he said, in time of peace ; but when active 
operations are necessary, and everything depends upon quick- 
ness of movement, no dependence could be placed upon a 
contractor. If contractors must be employed, let them be 
subject to court-martial if they fail to keep the army sup- 
plied. 



442 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

Continuing his march southward, he reached the friendly 
Indian village of Chehaw, sixty miles north of Fort Scott. 
His tired and hungiy troops were received by the Chehaw In- 
dians with hearty welcome, and supplied with all the corn 
they could spare. Every warrior in the village fit for service 
joined the army, leaving in the village only the old men, the 
women, and children, and the sick. These Indians were but 
the forerunners of a mighty host of friendly Creeks, a brigade 
nearly two thousand strong, under the half-breed M'Intosh, 
who were already in the field and on their way to join Gen- 
eral Jackson in the lower country. M'Intosh was the chief 
who had commanded the friendly Indians at the battle of the 
Horse-shoe, six years before. He was now a brigadier gen- 
eral in the service of the United States. 

With so many mouths to feed the provision question be- 
came one of the most extreme and pressing importance. At 
Fort Early, in the south of Georgia, General Jackson arrived 
on the 26th of February, with nine hundred Georgians, two 
companies of Tennesseans, and a body of Indians. Worse 
news met him there from Fort Scott. Such was the scarcity 
of provisions at the fort, that the commandant sent word that 
unless relieved in a very few days he should be compelled to 
abandon the post. To prevent a catastrophe so fatal. Gen- 
eral Gaines, with a few officers and men, threw himself into a 
boat, and started, at nightfall, down the river Flint toward 
Fort Scott. General Jackson resumed his march, his difficul- 
ties increasing at every step. " The excessive rains," he 
wrote at Fort Early, " have rendered the roads so bad that I 
ordered the troops, on their march here, to take their bag- 
gage on the wagon horses, and abandon their wagons. This 
facilitated their nlarch to this place, which they reached to- 
day ; and eleven hundred men are now here without a barrel 
of flour or a bushel of corn. We have pork on foot, and 
to-morrow I shall proceed to Fort Scott, and endeavor to pro- 
cure from the Indians a supply of corn that will aid in sub- 
sisting the detachment until we reach that place. How those 
failures have happened under the superintendence of regular 



1817.] ^'PROMPTIT UDE." 443 

officers I cannot imagine, but blame must rest somewhere, 
and it shall be strictly investigated as soon as circumstances 
will permit. The waters are unusually high and the ground 
so rotten that it is with much difficulty even pack horses 
can pass. Every stream we are compelled either to bridge or 
swim." 

In the evening of March 9th, forty-six days after leaving 
Nashville, General Jackson reached Fort Scott with his eleven 
hundred hungiy men. No tidings yet of the Tennessee 
troops under Colonel Hayne ! And, what was still more 
strange and alarming. General Gaines had not been heard of. 
There was no time to spend, however, in waiting or surmis- 
ing. The General found himself at Fort Scott in command 
of two thousand men, and his whole stock of provisions one 
quart of corn and three rations of meat per man. There was 
no supply in his rear, for he had swept the country on his line 
of march of every bushel of corn and every animal fit for food. 
He had his choice of two courses only — to remain at Fort 
Scott and starve, or to go forward and find provisions. It is 
not necessary to say which of these alternatives Andrew 
Jackson selected. " Accordingly," he wrote, " having been 
advised by Colonel Gibson, Quartermaster General, that he 
would sail from New Orleans on the 12th of February, with 
supplies ; and being also advised that two sloops with pro- 
vision were in the bay, and an officer had been dispatched 
from Foi't Scott in a large keel boat to bring up a part of 
their loading, and deeming that the preservation of these sup- 
plies would be to preserve the army, and enable me to prose- 
cute the campaign, I assumed the command on the morning 
of the 10th, ordered the live stock to be slaughtered and 
issued to the troops, with one quart of corn to each man, and 
the line of march to be taken up at twelve meridian." 

It was necessary to cross the swollen river ; an operation 
which consumed all the afternoon, all the dark night suc- 
ceeding, and a part of the next morning. Five days' march 
along the banks of the Aj)palachicola — past the scene of the 
massacre of Lieutenant Scott — brought the army to the site 



444 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

of the Negro Fort on Prospect Bluff. On the way, however, 
the army, to its great joy, met the ascending boat load of 
flour, when the men had their first full meal since leaving 
Fort Early, three weeks before. Upon the site of the Negro 
Fort, General Jackson ordered his aid, Lieutenant Gadsden 
of the engineers, to construct a fortification, which was 
promptly done, and named by the General, Fort Gadsden, in 
honor, as he said, of the " talents and indefatigable zeal" of 
the builder. No news yet of the great flotilla of provisions 
from New Orleans. " Consequently," wrote the General, " I 
put the troops on half rations, and pushed the completion of 
the fort for the protection of the provisions, in the event of 
their arrival, intending to march forthwith to the heart of the 
enemy and endeavor to subsist upon him. In the mean time 
I dispatched Major Fanning, of the corps of artillery, to take 
another look into the bay, whose return on the morning of the 
23d brought the information that Colonel Gibson, with one 
gun-boat and three transports and others in sight, were in the 
bay. On the same night I received other information that no 
more had arrived. I am therefore apprehensive that some of 
the smaller vessels have been lost, as one gunboat went to 
pieces, and another, when last spoken, had one foot of water 
in her." 

The Tennessee volunteers did not arrive, but had been 
heard from. " The idea of starvation," wrote General Jack- 
son, " has stalked abroad. A panic appears to have spread 
itself everywhere." Colonel Hayne had heard that the gar- 
rison of Fort Scott were starving, and had passed into Georgia 
for supplies, despite the willingness of the men " to risk the 
worst of consequences on what they had to join me." Gen- 
eral Gaines, however, joined the army at Fort Gadsden, 
though in sorry plight. " In his passage down the Flint," 
explains Jackson, " he was shipwrecked, by which he lost his 
assistant adjutant general, Major C. Wright, and two soldiers 
drowned. The general reached me six days after, nearly ex- 
hausted by hunger and cold, having lost his baggage and 
clothing, and being compelled to wander in the woods four 



1817.] '^PROMPTITUDE." 445 

and a half days without anything to subsist on, or any cloth- 
ing except a pair of pantaloons. I am happy to have it ia 
my power to say that he is now with me, at the head of his 
brigade, in good health." 

Nine days passed, and still the G-eneral was at Fort Gads- 
den waiting for the great flotilla. It occurred to him that 
possibly the Governor of Pensacola might have opposed its 
ascent of the river or molested it in the bay. He wrote a very 
polite but a very plain letter to the Governor on the 25th of 
March. " I wish it to be distinctly understood," he observed, 
" that any attempt to interrupt the passage of transports can- 
not be viewed in any other light than as a hostile act on your 
part. I will not permit myself for a moment to believe that 
you would commit an act so contrary to the interests of the 
king your master. His Catholic Majesty, as well as the gov- 
ernment of the United States, are alike interested in chastis- 
ing a savage foe who have too long warred with impunity 
against his subjects, as well as the citizens of this republic, 
and I feel persuaded that every aid which you can give to pro- 
mote this object, will be cheerfully tendered." 

The governor in due time replied that he would permit 
the transports to pass this time, on condition of their paying 
the usual duties, but never again. " If extraordinary cir- 
cumstances," he concluded, " should require any further tem- 
porary concessions, not explained in the treaty, I request 
your excellency to have the goodness to apply in future, for 
the obtaining of them, to the proper authority, as I, for my 
part, possess no power whatever in relation thereto." 

While General Jackson was waiting at Fort Gadsden 
came curious dispatches from General Mcintosh, who had 
already met his old enemies, the Red-Sticks, and done execu- 
tion upon some of them. March 2d, he wrote : " Since I left 
Fort Mitchell, the fourth day at twelve o'clock, I have taken 
three of our enemies that were firing on the vessels. I have 
got them in strings, carrying them to Fort Gaines, and expect 
to catch some more before I get there. Nothing more ; but the 
creeks are very high ; it is as much as we can do to travel." 



446 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. 1818.] 

March Gth, he continued : "I carried our three prisoners 
to Fort Gaines to the commanding officer, and he told me he 
would have nothing to do with them, and said to me, you 
may deal with them by your own laws. We had proof that 
they were at the destroying of the boat below the fork of Flint 
river, and one of them was wounded at that time. They were 
doing mischief to our friends, and I knew what was the law 
between us and the United States. I did not want them to 
stand on our land, and I have taken their lives. I have heard . 
where a good many of our enemies are collected, about forty ^ 
miles from this place, and I am going to push on there to- 
moiTow as fast as I can, until I can get where they are." 

"P. S. The commanding officer at Fort Gaines had 
taken the Tame King's son a prisoner, and gave him up to 
me. I heard no harm against him, and have turned him 
loose again, and now he has joined us." 

March 10th : " On the Sunday, in the evening, there was 
about fourteen of our old enemies came and gave themselves 
up to us, with their women and children. I sent the women 
back with some of our people to the Ufaula, and we have 
taken two of the men along with us as pilots. They told me 
that the Red Ground chief had got a great many of our ene- 
mies together to fight, and these two men are piloting us to 
him. About one hour after we took these people, ten more 
men came into our camp with white flags and joined us. I 
Bend this to you. I am going to-day, and to-morrow about 
nine o'clock the fight will be ended with us, if I conquer the 
the Red Ground chief." 

March 16th : " I went down the Creek Chaubulle the 
12th day of March, ^bout ten miles above the camp of Cou- 
chatee Micco, or Red Ground chief, and the creek swamp 
was Bo bad we could not pass it for the high waters. My men 
had to leave their clothes and provisions, and swim better 
than one half of the swamp, about six miles wide. We 
marched within two miles of his station, and the next morn- 
ning we surrounded his place ; but he was gone, and we could 
not follow him till we could get some provisions we had left 



1818.] "promptitude." 447 

behind us. I and Major Hawkins followed him and overtook 
his party, and he got away from us with about thirty men. 
We have taken fifty- three men and about one hundred and 
eighty women and children prisoners, without the fire of a 
gun ; and we killed ten men that broke to try and make their 
escape. I have not lost a man since I left Fort Mitchell." 

So much for General M'Intosh and his warriors, who did 
most of the little fighting that was done in this campaign. 
We shall meet him again. 

To return to General Jackson. Before the day closed on 
which he wrote his plain letter to the Governor of Pensa- 
cola, he had the pleasure of hearing that the provision flotilla 
had arrived, and of welcoming to Fort Gadsden its command- 
ing officers, Colonel Gibson of the army, and Captain Mc- 
Keever of the navy. He was writing a dispatch at the time 
to the Secretary of War, which he hastened to close with this 
most gratifying intelligence : " I shall move to-morrow," ho 
said, " having made the necessary arrangements with Captain 
McKeever for his cooperation in transporting my supplies 
around to the bay of St. Marks, from which place I shall do 
myself the honor of communicating with you. Should our 
enemy attempt to escape with his sujjplies and booty to the 
small islands, and from thence to caiTy on a predatory war- 
fare, the assistance of the navy will prevent his escape." 

Captain McKeever readily agreed to cooperate with Gen- 
eral Jackson. The following is the material part of a remark- 
able request, or order, delivered by the General to Captain 
McKeever on the day of the amval of the latter at Fort Gads- 
den : " It is reported to me that Francis, or Hillis Hago, and 
Peter McQueen, prophets, who excited the Red Sticks in their 
late war against the United States, and are now exciting the 
Seminoles to similar acts of hostility, are at or in the neigh- 
borhood of St. Marks. United with them it is stated that 
Woodbine, Arbuthnot and other foreigners have assembled 
a motley crew of brigands — slaves enticed away from their 
masters, citizens of the United States, or stolen during the 
late conflict with Great Britain. It is all important that 



•148 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

these men should be captured and made examples of, and it 
is my belief that on the approach of my army they will at- 
tempt to escape to some of the sea islands, from whence they 
may be enabled for a time to continue their excitement, and 
carry on a predatory war against the United States. You 
will, therefore, cruise along the coast, eastwardly, and as I 
advance capture and make prisoners all, or every person, or 
description of persons, white, red or black, with all their goods, 
chattels and effects, together with all crafts, vessels, or means 
of transportation by water, which will be held possession of 
for adjudication. Any of the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, 
sailing to St. Marks, may be permitted freely to enter the 
said river ; but none to pass out, unless after an examination 
it may be made to appear that they have not been attached 
to or in anywise aided and abetted our common enemy. I 
shall march this day, and in eight days will reach St. Marks, 
where I shall expect to communicate with you in the bay, and 
from the transports receive the supplies for my army." 

Hapless Arbuthnot ! He was then peacefully journeying 
toward St. Marks, absolutely alone in the wilderness. Upon 
reaching that fortress he heard, for the first time, of the ap- 
proach of General Jackson's overwhelming force, and of the 
arrival in the waters of Florida of the great flotilla of trans- 
ports and gun-boats under Captain McKeever. He knew not 
how to account for preparations so disproportioned to any ob- 
ject the United States could desire to effect in the province. 
He wrote hastily to his son : " I am blocked here ; no In- 
dians will come with me, and I am now suffering from the 
fatigue of coming here alone. The main drift of the Ameri- 
cans is to destroy the black population of Suwany. Tell my 
friend, Boleck, that it is throwing away his people to attempt 
to resist such a powerful force as will be dvawn on Sahwah- 
nee ; and as the troops advance by land, so will the vessels 
by sea. Endeavor to get all the goods over the river in a 
place of security, as also the skins of all sorts ; the corn must 
be left to its fate. So soon as the Sahwahnee is destroyed, I 
expect the Americans will be satisfied and retire ; this is only 



1818.] "promptitude." 449 

my. opinion, but I think it is conformable to the demand made 
by General Gaines to King Hatchy some months since ; in 
fact, do all you can to save all you can save, the books par- 
ticularly." 

This was written on the 2d of April. Arbuthnot's son 
was then on board the schooner Chance, at the mouth of the 
Suwannee river, below the principal town of Bowlegs, distant 
five days' march from St. Marks. Arbuthnot remained at 
St. Marks, the guest of the Spanish commandant of that post, 
totally without apprehension of danger to himself 

General Jackson, meanwhile, was in full march toward 
St. Marks. He left Fort Gadsden on the 26th of March, was 
joined by one regiment of Tennesseans on the 1st of April, 
and on the same day had a brush with the enemy, A " num- 
ber" of Indians, we are told in the official report, were dis- 
covered engaged in the peaceful employment of "herding 
cattle." An attack upon these dusky herdsmen was instantly 
ordered. " The spy companies commenced the attack, and a 
brisk running fire was kept up on both sides for some minutes ; 
when the enemy divided, the spy companies pursuing those 
on the right, and Lieutenant Colonel Elliott, having turned 
their flank, became generally engaged, and bore them over to 
the left column, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel 
Mitchell, within half gun-shot of each other, when they were 
assailed by both flanks, and would all have fallen had not the 
volunteers taken up the impression (from the similarity of 
dress) that some of the friendly warriors had reached in pur- 
suit of the enemy, which occasioned the firing to cease for a 
short time, when a number made good their retreat into the 
6 warn p." 

One American killed and four wounded, fourteen Indians 
killed and four women prisoners, were the results of this 
afiair. The army advanced upon the town to which the 
herdsmen belonged, and found it deserted. " On reaching 
the square, we discovered a red pole planted at the council 
house, or which was suspended about fifty fresh scalps, taken 
from the heads of extreme age down to the tender infant, of 
VOL, n.— 29 



450 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

both sexes, and in an adjacent house those of near three hun- 
dred men, which liore the appearance of being the barbarous 
tropliies of settled hostility for three or four years past."* 

General Gaines continued the pursuit on the following 
day, and gathered a prodigious booty. " The red pole," says 
the adjutant's report, " was again found planted in the square 
of Fowltown, barbarously decorated with human scalps of 
both sexes, taken within the last six months from the heads 
of our unfortunate citizens. General M'Intosh, who was 
with General Gaines, routed a small party of savages near 
Fowltown, killed one negro and took three prisoners, on one 
of whom was found the coat of James Champion, of Captain 
Cumming's company, fourth regiment of infantry, who was 
killed by the Indians on board of one of our boats descending 
the river to the relief of Major Mulenberg. The pocket-book 
of Mr. Leigh, who was murdered at Cedar Creek on the 
twenty-first of January last, was found in Kinghajah's town, 
containing several letters addressed to the deceased, and one 
to General Glascock. About one thousand head of cattle fell 
into our hands, many of which were recognized by the Geor- 
gia militia as having brands and marks of their citizens. 
Near three thousand bushels of corn was found, with other 
articles useful to the army. Upwards of three hundred 
houses were consumed, leaving a tract of fertile country in 
ruin, where these wretches might have lived in plenty, but 
for the vile machinations oi foreign traders, if not agents." 

On the sixth of April the army reached St. Marks, and 
halted in the vicinity of the fort. The General sent in to 
the governor his aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Gadsden, bearing 
a letter explanatory of his objects and purposes. He had" 
come, he said, " to chastise a savage foe, who, combined with 
a lawless band of negro brigands, had been for some time past 
carrying on a cruel and unprovoked war against the citizens 
of the United States." He had already met and put to flight 

* These scalps were doubtless the accumulation of many years and of pre- 
vious wars. The Seminoles had net taken ten scalps Bmce tlie war of 1812. ei- 
•lufiive of those of Lieutenant Scott's party. 



1818.] '^PROMPTITUDE." 451 

parties of the hostile Indians. He had received information 
that those Indians had fled to St. Marks and found protec- 
tion within its walls ; that botli Indians and negroes had 
procured supplies of ammunition there ; and that the Span- 
ish garrison, from the smallness of its numbers, was unable 
to resist the demands of the savages. " To prevent the recur- 
rence of so gross a violation of neutrality, and to exclude our 
savage enemies from so strong a hold as St. Marks, I deem it 
expedient to garrison that fortress with American troops until 
the close of the present war. This measure is justifiable on 
the immutable principle of self-defense, and cannot but be 
satisfactory, under existing circumstances, to his Catholic 
Majesty, the King of Spain. Under existing treaties between 
our two governments, the King of Spain is bound to preserve 
in peace with the citizens of the United States, not only his 
own subjects, but all Indian tribes residing within his terri- 
tory. When called upon to fulfill that part of the treaty in 
relation to a savage tribe who have long depredated with im- 
punity on the American frontier, incompetency is alleged, 
with an acknowledgment that the same tribe have acted in 
open hostility to the laws, and invaded the rights of his 
Catholic Majesty. As a mutual enemy, therefore, it is ex- 
pected that every facility will be afforded by the agents of 
the King of Spain to chastise these lawless and inhuman sav- 
ages. In this light is the possession of St. Marks by the 
American forces to be viewed. I came not as the enemy, but 
as the friend of Spain. Spanish rights and property will be 
respected. The property and rights of Spanish subjects will 
be guaranteed them. An inventory of all public property, 
munitions of war, etc., shall be made out, and certified by an 
officer appointed by each of us, and a receipt given for the 
same, to be accounted for to his Catholic Majesty by the 
United States. The subject of my possession of the garrison 
of St. Marks will be referred to our respective governments 
for amicable adjustment." 

The Governor replied that he had been made to understand 
General Jackson's letter only with the greatest difficulty, as 



452 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1818. 

there was no one witliin the fort who could properly translate 
it. He denied that the Indians and negroes had ever obtained 
Bupplies, succor or encouragement from Fort St. Marks. On 
the contrary, they had menaced the fort with assault because 
supplies had been refused them. With regard to delivering 
up the fort intrusted to his cai-e he had no authority to do so, 
and must write on the subject to his government. Meanwhile 
he prayed General Jackson to suspend his operations. "The 
sick your excellency sent in," concluded the polite Governor, 
" are lodged in the royal hospital, and I have afforded them 
every aid which circumstances admit. I hope your excellency 
will give me other opportunities of evincing the desire I have 
to satisfy you. J trust your excellency will pardon my not 
answering you as soon as requested, for reasons which have 
been given you by your aid-de-camp. I do not accompany 
this with an Enghsh translation, as your excellency desires, 
because there is no one in the fort capable thereof, but the 
before-named William Hambly proposes to translate it to your 
excellency in the best manner he can." 

This was delivered to General Jackson on the morning of 
the 7th of April. He instantly replied to it by taking pos- 
session of the fort ! The Spanish flag was lowered, the stars 
and stripes floated from the flag-staff, and American troops 
took up their quarters within the fortress. The Governor 
made no resistance, and, indeed, could make none. When all 
was over he sent to General Jackson a formal protest against 
his proceedings, to which the General briefly replied : " The 
occupancy of Fort St. Marks by my troops previous to your 
assenting to the measure became necessary from the difficul- 
ties thrown in the way of an amicable adjustment, notwith- 
standing my assurances that every arrangement should be 
made to your satisfaction, and expressing a wish that my 
movements against our common enemy should not be retarded 
by a tedious negotiation, I again repeat what has been re- 
iterated to you through my aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Gadsden, 
that your personal rights and private property shall be re- 
spected, that your situation shall be made as comfortable as 



1818.] **PROMPTITUDE." 453 

practicable while compelled to remain in Fort St. Marks, and 
that transports shall be furnished as soon as they can be 
obtained to convey yourself, family, and command, to Pensa- 
cola." 

Arbuthnot was found within the fort, an inmate of the 
Governor's own quarters. It appears that on the arrival of 
General Jackson he was preparing to leave St. Marks. His 
horse, saddled and bridled, was standing at the gate. William 
Hambly, the reader has observed, was also at the fort and un- 
dertook the translation of the Governor's letter. When last 
we mentioned this Hambly he had just had his store plundered, 
and was himself a prisoner of the wrathful Seminoles. It is 
important to us to know how he came to be at St. Marks at 
this time. We have only his own explanation. Doyle and 
himself, he afterwards said, were taken to Suwannee, the chief 
town of the Seminoles, near which Arbuthnot had his depot 
of goods. " There," said Hambly, " the principal chief of the 
Seminoles told me that we had been taken and robbed by 
order of Arbuthnot and brought there to be tried by him. 
Shortly after we reached this, Arbuthnot arrived from Provi- 
dence, when we were tried and sentenced by said Arbuthnot 
to be tortured. This sentence was not put in execution, by 
the friendly interference of Mr. Cook, clerk to Arbuthnot, and 
the negi-o chief, Nero. We were then conducted back to the 
Mickasukees. Then Kenhagee went down to Fort St. Marks 
to consult the commandant if he would take us as prisoners, 
to keep at his order. They held a council among the neighbor- 
ing chiefs, and on the fifth day he returned and ordered us to 
be conducted down next morning. We arrived at St. Marks 
on the 12th of February, at night. The Spanish officers re- 
ceived us kindly, but the commandant did not forget to remind 
us that we were still prisoners, and marked out that night the 
limits of our prison, which they rigidly kept during the time 
of our stay. Next morning, the 'first thing that presented 
itself to my view was my saddle horse, which had been taken 
from me by the Indians ; he was in possession of the com- 
missary. I mentioned it to the commandant, but he said 



454 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818 

that he bought him of an Indian, and he could do nothing in 
it. A few days after, in the course of conversation, I men- 
tioned it to the Spanish doctor; he assured me that two thirds 
of the property taken from us by the Indians had been bought 
by the commissary and others in the fort." 

This was Hambly's story. One thing, at least, we learn 
from it, namely, that William Hambly hated Alexander Ar- 
buthnot. We shall soon discover, too, that the Peter Cook 
mentioned by Hambly was inimical to Arbuthnot. Hambly's 
assertion that he was sentenced by Arbuthnot to be tortured 
rests on his sole assertion, and is contradicted by every prob- 
ability, by the whole tenor of Arbuthnot's words and deeds, 
as well as by the style of Hambly's narrative. Whether true 
or false, the affair was transacted within the Spanish province 
of Florida while, as yet, it was in the possession of the Span- 
iards. 

General Jackson had no sooner taken possession of St. 
Marks than Hambly and Arbuthnot changed places. Hambly 
was taken by General Jackson into high favor, believed im- 
plicitly, trusted entirely. Arbuthnot became the prisoner. 
" In Fort St. Marks," wrote General Jackson, " an inmate in 
the family of the Spanish commandant, an Englishman, by 
the name of Arbuthnot was found. Unable satisfactorily to 
explain the object of his visiting this country, and there being 
a combination of circumstances to justify a suspicion that his 
views were not honest, he was ordered into close confine- 
ment." 

Other events, sad and terrible, occurred on this eventful 
day. A few hours before General Jackson's arrival at St. 
Marks, Captain McKeever came into the harbor, displaying 
English colors from the masthead of his vessel. Within the 
fort was Duncan McKrimmon, whose life Milly Francis had 
sayed. This McKrimmon was destined to be the means of 
bringing upon his fair deliverer inemediable woe. The cir- 
cumstances referred to have been obligingly related to me by 
an American ofticer* who served in General Jackson's army. 

* J. B. Rodgers, Esq., ol' Rock Islaud, Tennessee. 



1818,] "promptitude." 455 

and was an eye-witness of all the important occunences of 
the campaign. 

" McKrimmon, upon seeing a vessel coming into port 
showing English colors, asked leave of the Spanish com- 
mandant to go on board of her, alleging that he feared the 
Indians might reclaim him and put him to death. He had 
been consigned to the custody of the Spanish commandant by 
Francis the prophet, whose town was only three miles dis- 
tant. He went on board with Hambly and Doyle, who were 
in the same situation as himself — })risoners subject to Indian 
caprice. To their equal astonishment and delight, they found 
that the vessel was American, and that their safety was cer- 
tain. 

" They immediately informed Captain McKeever of the 
return of Francis from England, and of his ardent desire for, 
and constant expectation of the arrival of supplies to carry on 
the war against the United States. This prompted the cap- 
tain to increase his display of English colors, and in the course 
of the following day — the temptation was too strong to be 
longer resisted — Francis or Hellis Hajo, with his right-hand 
chief, Himollemico, obtained a canoe and set oif to the fleet 
at the mouth of the bay, distant ten miles from the fort. 
Soon they accomplished their journey, and as soon as they 
got on board Francis asked : 

" ' What loaded with ?' 

" He was informed, ' guns, powder, lead, and blankets for 
his red friends the Indians.' 

" They manifested ecstatic delight ; when the captain in- 
vited them to his cabin (taking care to deprive them of all 
their arms), to take a glass with him. They descended the 
stairs, the captain following in the rear, with a signal to a 
few Jack tars to accompany him with ropes. No sooner said 
than done. Jack made his appearance before the astonished 
chiefs, who were soon bound and secured beyond the possi- 
bility of escape. 

" McKrimmon came in to salute the prisoners ; when 
Francis, in fair English, said, 



456 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

" ' This is what I get for saving your life/ 

*' ' Not so/ said McKrimmon ; ' it is to your daughter Milly 
that I am indebted for my life, and I will do any thing I can 
for your deliverance, 

" Mr. Hambly then addressed Himollemico in his language, 
and told him he was now in the hands of Greneral Jackson, 
who was hourly expected to invest St. Marks with his army, 
live tliousaud strong, and who actually did arrive that very 
evening as jnedicted ; a thing, liosvever, expected and looked 
for by the chiefs then in confinement, and who had made a 
desperate virtue of necessity in coming on board to obtain 
munitions of war to repel the General, but who had made so 
sad a mistake. 

" A few moments after, the approach of another canoe was 
announced, when McKrimmon, with a glass, announced it to 
coutain Milly his deliverer and the daughter of Hellis Hajo. 
The canoe was propelled by an Indian warrior in the after 
part of the craft, Milly sitting forward with a wistful eye 
cast on the vessel ahead. The sea was increasing and the 
canoe labored much, until it came near the vessel, when sud- 
denly, either from the force of the sea or some presentiment, 
the canoe wheeled and put back for the nearest beach, dis- 
tant a mile. The sentinel on duty hailed without arresting 
the attention of the occupants of the canoe. He hailed a 
second, a third time with like results. The captain then 
ordered the discharge of cannon to intimidate them, with like 
result. The captain then ordered a second cannon to be 
fired, somewhat impatiently. The officer misunderstanding 
the order, fired a heavy discharge of grape directly at the canoe, 
the shot fidling all around, without the slightest damage to 
the occupants. The captain then manned a light boat, with 
orders to capture the craft, which sped ofi" at his bidding, 
and was soon in close pursuit. The canoe, however, ap- 
proached the land, the water being shallow. Milly bounded 
from the canoe, and, as quick as thought, snatched from its 
bottom the warrior's rifle, and discharged it at the boat, de- 
positing the ball in the rudder under the arm of the steers- 



\ 



1818.] ''promptitude.'* 457 

man without further damage. The warrior grasped the empty 
gun from the hands of Milly, and both made safe their retreat 
to the main land, beyond the reach of the boat's crew, who 
made it their particular business as quick as possible to get 
beyond the second discharge of the warrior's rifle. 

" On the evening of this day General Jackson sat down 
before St. Marks, and obtained from the commandant the use 
of a boat to communicate with Captain McKeever. McKeever 
informed the General that Mr. Hambly gave it as his opinion 
that Alexander Arbuthnot was then concealed in the fort. 
Upon this information General Jackson dispatched Cap- 
tain, now General Twiggs, with a detachment of soldiers 
to the fort, a mile from the encampment of the main army, 
with orders to capture the fort and take it into possession. 
Captain Twiggs, at the fort gate, arrested Arbuthnot in the 
act of mounting his horse to make his escajje, and which 
he would doubtless have done in a few minutes more. He 
then proceeded to capture the fort and put on it American 
sentinels. 

" The next day after the capture by Captain McKeever of 
Hellis Hajo and Himollemico, he sent them up to the fort, 
when General Jackson ordered them to be hanged. Francis 
was a handsome man, six feet high ; would weigh say one 
hundred and fifty pounds ; of pleasing manners ; conversed 
well in English and Spanish ; humane in his disposition ; by 
no means barbarous — withal, a model chief When he was 
informed that General Jackson had ordered him to be hansred. 
he said, 

" ' What ! like a dog ? Too much. Shoot me, shoot me. 
I will die willingly if you will let me see General Jackson.' 

" ' He is not here,' said the officer, ' he is out at the en- 
campment with the army.' 

" His hands were then tied behind him, and in the effort 
to confine him he dropped from the sleeve of his coat a 
butcher knife, that he said he had intended to kill General 
Jackson with if he ever laid his eyes on him. Francis was 
di-essed with a handsome gray frock coat, a present to him 



458 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

while on his late trip to England. The rest of his dress was 
Indian. From his appearance, he must have been about forty 
years of age. 

" HimoUemico was a savage-looking man, of forbidding 
countenance, indicating cruelty and ferocity. He was taci- 
turn and morose. He was the chief that captured Lieuten- 
ant R. W. Scott with forty men and seven women, about the 
first of December, 1817, on the Appalacliicola. The Lieu- 
tenant with his whole party (except one woman retaken by 
General Jackson in the April following) were most mhumanly 
massacred by order of HimoUemico. Lieutenant Scott (as 
described by the woman prisoner) was tortured in every con- 
ceivable manner. Lightwood slivers were inserted into his 
body and set on fire, and in this way he was kept under tor- 
ture for the whole day. Lieutenant Scott repeatedly begged 
and importuned the woman that escaped the slaughter to 
take a tomahawk and end his pain. But ' No,' said she, 
' I would as soon kill myself All the while HimoUemico 
stood by, and with a fiendisii grin enjoyed the scene. 

" Mr. Hambly told him when they were about to hang 
him that General Jackson would not let him be shot, but 
would hang him like a dog, and disgrace him, and reminded 
him of how he treated Lieutenant Scott and his party. 

" The woman said that the Indians severed the breasts 
of every woman of the party from the body, then scalped and 
tomahawked them — six in number. She, being the seventh, 
was taken and claimed by a young Indian warrior. He 
treated her very kindly, and made her wait on him, and on 
the march during the day she rode his pony. She was 
retaken from the Indians in the April thereafter, between 
St. Mark's and Suwannee, by the friendly Indians and some 
Tennesseans, who killed twenty or thirty of the Indians, 
taking about ninety prisoners, with a large number of 
cattle." 

So much for the long execrated execution of the Indian 
chiefs. The important statements of Mr. Rodgers' narrative, 
I may add, are confirmed both by the official report of Cap- 



1818.] ''promptitude." 459 

tain Keever and by the dispatches of General Jackson. The 
attendant circumstances, however, are now pubhshed for the 
first time. 

For two days only the army remained at Fort St. Mark's. 
Suwannee, the far-famed and dread Suwannee, the town of 
the great cliief Boleck, or Bowlegs, the refuge of negroes, was 
General Jackson's next object. It was one hundred and seven 
miles from St. Mark's, and tlie route lay through a flat and 
swampy wilderness, little known, and destitute of forage. On 
the ninth of April, leaving a strong garrison at the fort, and 
supplying the troops with rations for eight days, the General 
again plunged into the forest ; the white troops in advance, 
the Indians, under General M'Intosh, a few miles in the 
rear. 

During the night of the twelfth the sentinels heard the 
lowing of cattle and the barking of dogs. In the morning 
the country was examined, but no signs of Indians were dis- 
covered. Word was sent to M'Intosh to scour the country 
far and wide, and that the main body would await his return, 
and send him aid if he should come upon any considerable 
body of the enemy. 

" Mcintosh soon fell in with a party of hostile Seminoles. 
" I heard," he wrote to General Mitchell, " of Peter McQueen 
being near the road we were traveling, and I took my warriors 
and went and fought him. There seemed to be a considerable 
number collected there. When we first began to fight them 
they were in a bad swamp, and fought us there for about an 
hour, when they ran and we followed them three miles. They 
fought us in all about three hours. We killed thirty-seven oi 
them, and took ninety-eight women and children and six men 
prisoners, and about seven hundred head of cattle, and a num- 
ber of horses, with a good many hogs and some corn. We lost 
three killed, and had five wounded. Our prisoners tell us that 
there was one hundred and twenty warriors from six different 
towns. From what we saw I believe there was more than they 
say, as some of our prisoners say there was two hundred of 
them. Tom Woodward (Major Woodward) and Mr. Brown-, 



460 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

and your son, our agent, and all the white men that live in 
our country, were with us through the whole fight and fought 
well. All my officers fought so well I do not know which is 
the bravest. They all fought like men and run their enemies. 
General Jackson waited for us about six miles from where we 
fought. After the fight I went and joined him, and we are 
going this morning to fight the negroes together. They are 
at Suwannee, and we shall be there in four days. There was 
among the hostiles a woman that was in the boat when our 
friends the white people were killed on the river below Fort 
Scott. We gave her to her friends — ^her husband and father 
are with General Jackson. Major Kinard took her himself. 
This is all I have to tell you." 

General Jackson added in his own dispatch that Mcin- 
tosh killed three of the enemy with his own hands and cap- 
tured one. 

The army resumed its march towards the Suwannee, wading 
through extensive sheets of water ; the horses starving for 
want of forage, and giving out daily in large numbers. Late 
in the afternoon of the third day after the last skirmish the 
troops reached a "remarkable pond," which the Indian guides 
said was only six miles from Suwannee town. " Here," says 
the General, " I should have halted for the night had not six 
mounted Indians (supposed to be spies) who were discovered, 
effected their escape. This determined me to attempt, by a 
forced movement, to })revent the removal of their effects, and, 
if possible, themselves from crossing the river, for my rations 
being out it was all important to secure their supplies for the 
subsistence of my troops," At sunset, accordingly, the lines 
were formed, and the whole army rushed forward. 

But the prey had been forewarned ! Arbuthnot's letter 
to his son had reached the place, and had been explained to 
Bowlegs, who had been ever since employed in sending the 
women and children across the broad Suwannee into those in- 
accessible retreats which render Florida the best place in the 
world for such warfare as Indians wage. 
♦ Th«^ troops reached the vicinity of the town. " The left 



1818.] **P R OMP TIT U DE." 461 

flank," we are told, " composed of Colonel Williamson's regi- 
ment of Tennessee volunteers, at the head of which was a 
force of Indian warriors under Colonel Kinard, soon came in 
contact and warmly engaged the Indians and negroes ; while 
the right flank, composed of Colonel Dyer's regiment of Ten- 
nessee volunteers, with a like force of warriors under General 
M'Intosh, advanced near the river to prevent the enemy from 
crossing. The center advanced in excellent order, and under 
the expectation of having to combat with the strength of these 
towns and the fugitives from Mickasuky, but on reaching 
Bowlegs' town found it abandoned. The left flank, from the 
nature of the ground they had to traverse, and Colonel Kinard 
not adhering entirely to the route designated, drove the In- 
dians and negroes (about three hundred) into the river before 
the right flank could occupy the desired position. The reports 
give eleven killed and three prisoners on the field, and it is 
believed many were killed and drowned in swimming the river, 
it being nearly three hundred yards wide. Colonel Kinard had 
thirteen wounded, but one dangerously. About twenty-seven 
hundred bushels of corn was obtained in the towns and neigh- 
boring swamps, near ninety head of cattle, and a number of 
horses," 

The pursuit was continued on the following morning by 
General Gaines ; but the foe had vanished by a hundred paths, 
and were no more seen. 

In the evening of April 17th the whole army encamped 
on the level banks of the Suwannee. In the dead of night 
an incident occurred which can here be related in the lan- 
guage of the same young Tennessee officer who has already 
narrated for us the capture of the chiefs and their execution. 
Fortunately for us, he kept a journal of the campaign. This 
journal, written at the time partly with a decoction of roots, 
and partly with the blood of the journalist,* for ink was not 
attainable, lay for forty years among his papers, and was 
copied at length by the obliging hand of his daughter for the 
readers of thefse pages. " About midnight," wrote our jour- 

* J, B. Rodgers, Esq,, of South Rock Island, Tennessee. 



462 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

nalist, "of April 18th, the repose of the army, then bivouacked 
on the plains of the old town of Suwannee, was suddenly dis- 
turbed by the deep-toned report of a musket, instantly fol- 
lowed by the sharp crack of the American ritle. The signal 
to "arms was given, and where but a moment before could 
only be heard the measured tread of the sentinf Is and the low 
moaning of the long-leafed pines, now stood five thousand 
men, armed, watchful and ready for action. The cause of the 
alarm was soon made known. Four men, two whites and 
two negroes, had been captured while attempting to enter the 
camp. They were taken in charge by the guard, and the 
army again sank to such repose as war allows her votaries. 
When morning came it ■ was ascertained that the prisoners 
were Robert C. Ambrister, a white attendant named Peter 
B. Cook, and two negro servants — Ambrister, being a nephew 
of the English governor, Cameron, of the Island of New Pro- 
vidence, an ex-lieutenant of British marines, and suspected 
of being engaged in the business of counseling and furnishing 
munitions of war to the Indians, in furtherance of their con- 
test with the United States. Ignorant of the situation of the 
American camp, he had blundered into it while endeavoring 
to reach Suwannee town to meet the Indians, being also un- 
aware that the latter had been driven thence on the previous 
day by Jackson. 

" Receiving information as to the character and business 
of Ambrister from Mr. Hambly, and learning from Ambris- 
ter's attendant that his headquarters were on board Arbuth- 
not's vessel, then lying at anchor at the mouth of Suwannee 
river, about one hundred miles distant, and from which he, 
Ambrister, had just come, General Jackson immediately dis- 
patched Lieutenant Gadsden (in later years minister to 
Mexico) to seize the vessel, with the twofold object of obtain- 
ing the vessel for the transport of his sick and wounded back 
to St. Marks, and of securing further information relative to 
the plans and business of the prisoner." 

Upon the person of one of the negroes, we may add, was 
found Arbuthnot's letter to his son. " From Cook/' says 



I 



1818.] "promptitude." 463 

General Jackson, " we learned that this letter was read to the 
negroes and Indians, when they immediately commenced cross- 
ing their families, and had just finished as we entered the 
towns. Upwards of three hundred houses were here com- 
sumed, the most of which were well built and somewhat reg- 
ular, extending nearly three miles up the river." 

Ambrister was conducted to St. Marks and placed in con- 
finement, together with his companions. The fact that through 
Arbutlmot the Suwannee people had escaped, and rendered 
the last swift march comparatively fruitless, was calculated, 
it must be owned, to exasperate the mind of General Jackson. 

The Seminole war, so called, was over — for the time. On 
the 20th of April the Georgia troops marched homeward to 
be disbanded. On the 24th, General Mcintosh and his bri- 
gade of Indians were dismissed. On the 25th, General Jack- 
son, with his Tennesseans and regulars, was again at Fort 
St. Marks. It was forty-six days since he had entered Florida, 
and thirteen weeks since he left Nashville. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

EXECUTION OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 

General Jackson, in the conduct of this campaign, 
had exercised imperial functions. He had raised troops by 
a method unknown to the laws. He had invaded the do- 
minions of a king who was at peace with the United States. 
He had seized a fortress of that province, expelled its garrison, 
and garrisoned it with his own troops. He had assumed the 
dread prerogative of dooming men to death without trial. 
AU this may have been right. But if he had been Andrew 
I., by the grace of God, Emperor of the United States, could 
he have done more ? Could the autocrat of all the Russias, 
leading an expedition into Circassia, do more ? Would any 
recent autocrat of Russia have done as much. 



464 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

One more act of imperial authority remained to be per- 
formed. The war was at an end, or supposed to be. General 
Jackson, on his homeward march, halted at the fortress of St. 
Marks, to decide the fate of the prisoners, Ambrister and Ar- 
buthnot. He had determined to accord them the indulgence 
of a trial, and now selected for that purpose a " special court" 
of fourteen officers, who were ordered to " record all the doc- 
cuments and testimony in the several cases, and their opinion 
as to the guilt or innocence of the prisoners, and what pun- 
ishment, if any, should be inflicted." 

The following are the names of the officers that constituted 
the court : Major General E. P. Gaines, President. Mem- 
bers, Colonel King, 4th infantry ; Colonel Williams, Tennes- 
see volunteers ; Lieutenant Colonel Gibson, Tennessee vol- 
unteers ; Major Muhlenberg, 4th infantry ; Major Montgom- 
ery, 7th infantry ; Captain Vashan, 7th infantry ; Colonel 
Dyer, Tennessee volunteers ; Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay, 
Corps of Artillery ; Lieutenant Colonel Elliott, Tennessee 
volunteers ; Major Fanning, Corps of Artillery ; Major Min- 
ton, Georgia militia ; Captain Crittenden, Kentucky volun- 
teers. Lieutenant J. M. Glassel, 7th infantry. Recorder. 

At noon, on the 28d of April, the court convened. The 
members were sworn and Arbuthnot was arraigned. The 
charges brought against him were three in number. 

First Charge. Exciting the Creek Indians to war 
against the United States. Specification : Writing a letter 
to the Little Prince in the summer of 1817, exhorting and 
advising him not to comply with the treaty of Fort Jackson, 
stating that the citizens of the United States were infringing 
on the treaty of Ghent, and, as he believed, without the 
knowledge of the chief magistrate of the United States ; and 
advising the Upper and Lower Creeks to unite and be friendly, 
slating that WiUiam Hambly was the cause of their disputes; 
also advising the Little Prince to write to the Governor of 
New Providence, who would write to his royal liighness the 
Prince Regent, through whom the United States would bo 
:!alled to a compliance with the treaty of Ghent, and advis- 



1818.] AKBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 465 

ing them not to give up their lands, under the treaty of 
Fort Jackson, for that the American citizens would he com- 
pelled to give up to them all their lands, under the treaty of 
Ghent. 

Second Charge. Acting as a spy, aiding and comfort- 
ing the enemy, and supplying them with the means of war. 
Specification 1 : Writing a letter to his son, advising him of 
the advance of General Jackson's army, for the purpose of 
enabling Bowlegs and his warriors to escape. Specification 
2 : Applying to the British government, through Governor 
Cameron, for munitions of war and assistance for our ene- 
mies; making false representations; and also applying to Mr 
Bagot, British embassador, for his interference, with a state- 
ment on the back of one of the letters of munitions of war 
for the enemy. 

Third Charge. Exciting the Indians to murder and 
destroy William Hambly and Edmund Doyle, and causing 
their arrest, with a view to their condemnation to death, and 
the seizure of their property, on account of their active and 
zealous exertions to maintain peace between Spain, the United 
States, and the Indians, they being citizens of the Spanish 
government. Specification : Writing two lettere, in the 
summer of 1817, threatening them with death, alleging 
against them false and infamous charges, and using every 
means to procure their arrest, all. of which writings and say- 
ings excited, and had a tendency to excite, the negroes and 
Indians to acts of hostilities with the United States. 

Such were the charges. The third charge, however, it 
was subsequently decided by the court, was one over which it 
had no jurisdiction, and it was, in eftect, withdrawn. We 
may, in passing, just remind the reader that Hambly and 
Doyle were seized when Arbuthnot was not in the province. 
Their seizure was one of the series of retaliatory measures 
which followed the attack upon Fowltown, and the Fowl- 
town chief commanded in j^erson the party that did the deed. 
Arbuthnot had nothing to do with it. 

With regard to the other charges the evidence adduced 
roL. 11.^ — 30 



466 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

■was of two kinds, documentary and personal. The letters 
and papers that were found on board the prisoner's schooner, 
of which fair specimens have already been given in these 
pages, were all submitted to the court. They proved that 
the prisoner had sympathized with the Seminoles ; that he 
had considered them an injured people ; that he had written 
many letters entreating the interferenc(3 in their behalf of 
English, Spanish, and American authorities ; that he had 
given them notice of the approach of General Jackson's anny, 
and advised them to fly ; that he had, on all occasions, ex- 
erted whatever influence he possessed to induce the Indians 
to live in peace with one another and with their neighbors. 

Among the numerous papers of Arbuthnot but one piece 
of writing was found, and that- not signed by him, which bears 
even the appearance of his having sanctioned a resort to arms. 
On the back of one of his letters to the Hon. Charles Bagot, 
British minister at Washington, written after the war had 
commenced, and after General Jackson had assumed the com- 
mand, appeared the following memorandum : 

"King Hatchy 1,000, Boleck 1,500, Oso Hatjo Choctawhachy 500, 
Himashy Miso Chattchichy 600, at present with Hillisajo. At present 
underarms, 1,000 and more; and attacking those Americans who have 
made inroads on their territory. 

" A quantity of gunpowder, lead, muskets and flints, sufficient to arm 
1,000 or 2,000 men; muskets 1,000, arms smaller, if possible ; 10,000 flints, 
a proportion for rifle, put up separate ; 50 casks gunpowder, a proportion 
for rifle ; 2,000 knives, six to nine inch blade, good quality ; 1,000 toma- 
hawks; 100 lbs. vermilion; 2,000 lbs. lead, independent of ball for mus- 
kets. King Hatchy 

Boleck." 

The letter, upon the back of which this memorandum was 
wTitten, contained nothing of a hostile nature. It inclosed the 
talk of General Gaines, and King Hatchy's reply to the same, 
both of which we have given on a previous page. It announced 
the invasion of the Indian territory, and offered to give any 
further information respecting the state of the country which 
Mr. Bagot might desire. The letter and its memorandum 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER, 467 

were evidently written at the special request of the chiefs, 
which request Arbuthnot was not in a position to refuse, even 
if he had wished to refuse it. 

The specification of the first charge mentions a letter said 
to have been written by the prisoner to the Little Prince, ex- 
horting; him not to comply with the treaty of Fort Jackson. 
That letter was never produced, Arbuthnot wished it pro- 
duced, and urged that, as Indians never destroy letters or 
documents, it could doubtless be procured. The whole of the 
testimony relating to it was the following : 

" John Winslett, a witness on the part of the prosecution, being duly 
sworn, stated, that some time before last July, the Little Prince received a 
letter signed by a Mr. Arbuthnot, advising the upper part of the nation to 
unite with the lower chiefs in amity, and stating the best mode for them 
to repossess themselves of theii- lands would be to write to him (Arbuth- 
not) and he would send their complaints to the Governor of Providence, 
whence it would be forwarded to his Britannic Majesty, and he would have 
the terms of the treaty of Ghent attended to. He moreover stated his 
belief that the encroachments on the Indian lands were unknown to the 
President of the United States. 

" The witness, on being further interrogated, stated the language of the 
letter alluded to to be, that the British government, on application, would 
cause to be restored to them their lands they held in 1811, agreeably to 
the terms of the treaty of Ghent. 

" Question by the prisoner. — Where is the letter you allude to, or in 
whose possession ? 

" Ans. — It was left in the possession of the Little Prince when I last 
saw it. 

" Question by the prisoner. — Are you certain that the letter stated that 
the Chief Magistrate of the United States could have no knowledge of 
settlements made on Indian lands or injuries committed ? 

" Ans. — The letter stated that to be the belief of the writer." 

So much for the formidable specification of the first charge. 
It was sustained only by the testimony of one witness, who 
had nothing to ofier but his recollection of the contents of a 
letter which he had read ten months before. 

John Lewis Phoenix (captain of Arbuthnot's schooner) 
the second witness, testified truly that the letter written by 
the prisoner to his son on the 2d of April, had been explained 



468 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

to the Indians and negroes at Bowlegs' town, and had enabled 
the greater part of them to escape. What a heartless and 
traitorous wretch Arhuthnot would have been, had he not 
written that letter ! 

The tliird witness was Peter B. Copk, formerly clerk to 
Arbuthnot and now his foe. This Cook had been taken pris- 
oner with Ambrister, and was equally involved with him in 
the charge of cooperating with the Indians. Nay, by his 
own confession, ho had fought against the Americans in 
this war. 

Among the mass of letters seized on board the schooner 
Chance was a curious rigmarole of a love letter from Cook to a 
girl in New Providence, which proves his own guilt and his en- 
mity to Arbuthnot. " We are threatened," he wrote, January 
19th, 1818, to his dear Amelia, " every day by the d — d Ameri- 
cans. Not threatened only, but they have made an attempt ; 
but we stopped them. On 1st December I marched with 
thirty men to go against them. After seven days' march we 
anived at the fort (Scott, probably), and after our men got 
rested I went against it. We had an engagement for four 
hours, and seeing we could do no good with them we retreated 
and came off. The balls flew like hail stones ; there was a 
ball that like to have done my job, ii just cleared my breast. 
For six days and six nights we had to camp in the wild woods, 
and it was constant raining night and day, and as for the cold 
I suffered very much by it ; in the morning the water would 

be frozen about an inch thick We have got Mr. 

Hambly and Doyle prisoners, and we are going to send them 
to Nassau to stand their trial, as they have caused all this 
disturbance. Hambly told me that it was published in the 
American newspapers that they were to take possession of the 
nation in March, and if that be the case you will see us sooner 
than you expected ; and if they should come when the vessel 
is away, we shall have to take and run in our canoes, as we 
have some very fine ones here. One knows not hardly what 
to do for those d — d puppies, as we may call them, for they 
are no better. We find what I have mentioned is all d— — d 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 469 

lies ; but Arbuthnot has threatened my life once or twice, but 
on my return I will punish him by the law." 

This man, thus self-condemned, himself guilty of far more 
than the prisoner was accused of, and known to be that pris- 
oner's enemy, was permitted to be a witness against him. He 
stated that, "about December or January last, the prisoner had 
a large quantity of powder and lead brought to Suwannee in 
his vessel, which he sold to the Indians and negroes ; that 
subsequent to that time, which he can not recollect, Ambrister 
brought for the prisoner in his (the prisoner's) vessel nine kegs 
of powder and a large quantity of lead, which was taken pos- 
session of by the negroes." Cook was further questioned : 

" Question by the court. Have you at any time within the last twelve 
months heard any conversation between the prisoner and the chief called 
Bowlegs relating to the war between the United States and the Serai- 
noles ? 

" Ans. I heard the prisoner tell Bowlegs that he had sent letters to the 
Prince Regent and expected soon to have an answer. Some time after- 
wards some of the negroes doubted his carrying those letters, when the 
prisoner stated that he had, but the distance being great it would take some 
time to receive an answer. 

" By the court. State to the court when and where you first saw the 
letter signed A. Arbuthnot to his son, dated April 2d, '1818, referred to in 
the first specification and the second charge ? 

"Ans. About the 6th of April a black man, who said he had re- 
ceived it from an Indian, gave it to Mr. Ambrister, whom I saw 
reading it. 

" Ques. by the court. Do you know by what means that letter was con- 
veyed to Suwannee ? 

^^ Ans. I understood by an Indian who was sent from Port St. 
Marks. 

" Qzies. by the court. Who paid the Indian for carrying the letter re- 
ferred to in the last interrogatory ? 

'* Ans. I do not know. 

" Qices. by the court. What steps were taken by the negroes and Indiana 
on the receipt of the letter ? 

'* Ans. They first beUeved the bearer to be an enemy and confined him, 
but, learning the contrary, began to prepare for the enemy and the removal 
of their families and effects across the river ; the Indians lived on the op- 
posite side. 



^0 L/FE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

" Ques. by the court. Did the Indians and negroes act together in tho 
performance of military duty? 

" Ans. No ; but they always said they would fight together. 

" Qiies. by the court. Did not Nero command the blacks, and did not 
Bowleg's own Nero, and was not the latter under the immediate command 
of Bowlegs ? 

" Ans. Nero commanded the blacks, and was owned and commanded 
by Bowlegs ; but there were some negro captains who obeyed none but 
Nero. 

" Ques. by the court. What vessel brought to Suwannee the ammu- 
nition which you said was sold by the prisoner to the Indians and 
negroes. 

'' A71S. The schooner Chance, now lying at this wharf; she is a fore- 
topsail vessel belonging to the prisoner. 

" Question hy the prisoner. How long have you been acquainted with 
the settlements on the Suwannee ? 

" Ans. Between six and seven months. 

-' Ques. by the F. For what term of years did you engage to live with 
the prisoner ? 

" Ans. For no stated period — I was taken by the year. 

" Ques. by the P. Were you not discharged by the prisoner from his 
employ ? 

" Ans. He told me he had no further use for me after I had written the 
letters to Providence. 

" Ques. Where did you stay after you were discharged ? 

" Aris. I staid in ^ small house belonging to a boy called St. John, under 
the protection of Nero. 

" Ques. What was the subject matter of the letters you wrote to Provi- 
dence ? 

" Ans. After being refused by the prisoner a small venture to Provi- 
dence, I wrote my friends for the means to trade by myself. 

" Ques. by the P. Do you believe the prisoner had knowledge of the 
venture being on board the schooner ? 

" Ans. I don't believe he did. It was small and in my trunk. 

" Ques. by the P. Do you know that Ambrister was the agent of tho 
prisoner ? 

" Ans. I do not. 

" Ques. Do you think that the powder and the lead sliipped would more 
than supply the Indian and negro hunters ? 

" Ans. I did not see the powder and lead myself, but was told by Bow- 
legs that he had a great quantity there keeping to fight with. 

Qv^s. Did not Bowlegs keep other powder than that got from the 
prisoner? 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 471 

" Ans. He had some he got from the Bhiff, whicli was nearly done ; be 
said his hunters were always bothering him about powder. 

" Ques. Did you state tliat at the time Ambrister ascended the rivor 
there was no other vessel at the mouth of the river ? 

" Ans. There was none other there ; there was one had sailed. 

" Ques. There is a letter A spoken of; how do you know that ihe sou 
of the prisoner had that letter in his possession ? 

" A71S. I saw him with it, which lie dropped, and a boy called John 
picked up and gave it to me. 

" Ques. You stated that the Indians and negroes doubted the fidelity 
of the prisoner in sending letters to the Prince Regent ; do you think the 
prisoner would have been punished by them had he not complied with their 
wishes ? ^ 

" Ans. I do not know. 

" Ques. Do you believe the prisoner was compelled to write the Indian 
communications ? 

'• Ans. He was not compelled." 

William Hambly, the fourth witness, besides his testi- 
mony with regard to his own seizure and confinement, had 
none but heresay evidence to offer. He said, that " fifteen or 
twenty days after the prisoner arrived at Ochlochnee, the 
Seminole Indians began to steal horses from the United 
Sta,tes' settlements, and committed murders on the Satilla 
river, which, he was informed by them, was at the instigation 
of the prisoner. The chiefs of the little villages, in witness' 
neio-hborhood, then desired him to write a few lines to the 
prisoner, stating these reports, and that he did not know that 
those Indians he was exciting had long been outlawed, and cau- 
tioned him against such proceedings, or he might be involved 
in their ruin. This the witness did, when the prisoner wrote 
him a long and insulting letter, which was lost, upbraiding 
the witness for calling those Indians outlaws, and accusing 
him of exciting the Indians to cruel war. The witness was 
told by chiefs and Indians, who had seen the prisoner, that he 
advised them to go to war with the United States, if they did 
not surrender them the lands which had been taken from 
them, and that the British government would support them 
in it. The Indians that took the witness and a certain Mr. 
Doyle prisoners, which happened on the 13th of Decembei 



472 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

last, told them it was by the prisoner's order ; and on their 
arrival at Mickasuka (as prisoners), King Hijah and all liis 
chiefs told them it Avas by the prisoner's orders they were 
ta,ken and robbed. On their arrival at Suwannee, they were 
told by the Indians and negi'o chiefs who set in council over 
them, that the prisoner had advised that he should be given 
up to five or six Choctaw Indians, who were saved from the 
Negro Fort, who would revenge themselves for the loss of their 
friends at that ])lace." 

Nothing further respecting the "torturing." Hambly 
stated that the chiefs had always represented Arbuthnot to 
be an authorized agent of the British government. 

Doyle was summoned to the stand, but stated that he 
" knew nothing except from common report." One or two 
other witnesses were called, but added nothing to the testi- 
mony already elicited. The evidence for the prosecution be- 
ing all recorded, Arbuthnot requested that Ambrister might 
be called as a witness on the side of the defense. The request 
was refused on the ground' that Ambrister was in custody ac- 
cused of oifenses similar to those charged against the prisoner. 
Why, then, was Cook permitted to testify ? 

Arbuthnot in his defense recalled the captain of his ves- 
sel, who testified that no arms had been brought to the prov- 
ince by the prisoner, and but small quantities of jiowder and 
lead, and that Ambrister had seized the prisoner's schooner 
and used it for purposes of his own. 

Arbuthnot's address to the court at the conclusion of the 
trial, was respectful, calm, and able. He commented chiefly 
upon the hearsay character of the evidence, and particularly 
that relating to the letter to the Little Prince. " The only 
proof," said he, " that this honorable court has of the exist- 
ence of such letter being in the hands of any person, or its 
contents being known, is the vagrant memory of a va- 
grant individual. Make this a rule of eviden^p, and I ask 
you when would implication, construction, and invention 
Btop ? Whose property, whose reputation, and whose life 
would be safe ? Here I would beg leave to mention a re- 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 473 

mark made by the president of this court, in the course of 
this investigation, which was that, notwithstanding the letter 
was proved by the witness to be in the i)ossession of the Lit- 
tle Prince, that this court could not notice that circumstance, 
because there were no means by which it could be obtained. 
I would ask the honorable court what means they have 
adopted, or what exertions have they made, to procure this 
letter T' 

With regard to his letter to his son, the prisoner said : 
" If the court please, this letter was Avritten in consequence 
of my property at Suwannee, and the large debts that were due 
me from Bowlegs and his people. Nothing, I believe, of an 
inflammatory nature can be found on reading the document 
authorizing the opinion that I was prompting the Indians to 
war. On the contrary, if the honorable court will examine 
the document, they will see that I wished to lull their fears 
by informing them that it was the negroes, and not the In- 
dians, the Americans were principally moving against. If 
the honorable court please, I will make a few remarks upon 
the second specification, and here close my defense. In proof 
of this charge the court have before them the evidence of 
Hambly, Cook, and sundry letters purporting to be written 
by myself to diiFerent individuals. May it please the court, 
what does Cook prove ? Why, that I had ten kegs of pow- 
der at Suwannee. Let me appeal to the experience of this 
court, if they think this quantity of powder would supply 
one thousand Indians and an equal number of blacks more 
than two months for hunting ? As to the letters named in 
this specification, may it please the court, the rules of evi- 
dence laid down in the first part of this defense will apply 
with equal force in the present case. It remains now, may it 
please the court, to say something as to Hambly 's testimony; 
and may it please this honorable court, the rule laid down in 
this case as to hearsay evidence will be found without a pre- 
cedent. A strong case was stated by an intelligent member 
of this court on the examination of this part of the evidence; 
that is, would you receive as testimony what a third person 



474 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1817. 

hadsaid, whom, if present, you would reject as incompetent ? 
Apply this principle to the present case, could an Indian be 
examined on oath in our courts of judicature ? If, then, the 
testimony of savages is inadmissible, Hambly proves nothing 
Here, may it please this honorable court, I close my reply to 
the charges and specifications preferred against me, being 
fully persuaded that, should there be cause of censure, my 
judges will, in the language of the law, lean to the side of 
mercy." 

The " trial" was over. The prisoner was removed. The 
court deliberated. Two thirds of the court concurred in the 
following opinion and sentence : " The court, after mature 
deliberation on the evidence adduced. And the prisoner, A. 
Arbuthnot, guilty of the first charge, and guilty of the sec- 
ond charge, leaving out the words, ' acting as a spy :' and, 
after mature reflection, sentence him, A. Arbuthnot, to be 
suspended by the neck until he is dead." 

Ambrister was next arraigned. We need not dwell upon 
his trial. He was accused of aiding and comforting the 
enemy, and of "levying war against the United States," by 
assuming command of the Indians, and ordering a party of 
them " to give battle to an army of the United States." It 
was proved against Ambrister that he had come to Florida 
"on Woodbine's business," which, he said, was to "see the 
negroes righted;" that he had captured Arbuthnot's schooner, 
plundered his store, and distributed its contents among his 
negro and Indian followers ; that he had written to New 
Providence asking that arms and ammunition might be sent 
to the Indians ; and that he had sent a party to " oppose" 
the American invasion. The last-named fact was proved -by 
a sentence in one of his own letters to the Grovernor of New 
Providence. " I expect," wrote Ambrister, March 20th, 1818, 
" that the Americans and Indians will attack us daily. / 
have sent a party of men to oppose them." 

The prisoner made no formal defense, but merely re- 
marked, that "inasmuch as the testimony which was intro- 
duced in this case was very explicit, and went to every pomt 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 475 

the prisoner could wish, he has nothing further to offer in his 
defense, but puts himself upon the mercy of the honorable 
court." 

The honorable court pronounced him guilty of the prin- 
cipal charge, and sentenced him to be shot. But, we are 
told, " One of the members of the court, requesting a recon- 
sideration of his vote on the sentence, the sense of the court 
was taken thereon, and decided in the affirmative, when the 
vote was again taken, and the court sentenced the prisoner to 
receive fifty stripes on his bare back, and be confined with a 
ball and chain to hard labor for twelve calendar months." 

The trials, which began at noon on the twenty-sixth, ter- 
minated late in the evening of the twenty-eiglith ; when the 
])roceedings of the court were submitted to the commanding 
Greneral. On the following morning, before the dawn of day, 
General Jackson and the main body of his army were in full 
march for Fort Gadsden. He left at St. Mark's a garrison 
of American troops. The following order, with regard to 
the court and the prisoners it had tried, issued just before 
his departure, was dated, " Camp four miles north of St. 
Mark's, April 29, 1818." 

" The Commanding General approves the finding and sentence of the 
jourt in the case of A. Arbuthnot, and approves the finding and first sen- 
tence of the court in the case of Robert 0. Ambrister, and disapproves the 
reconsideration of the sentence of the honorable court in this case. 

" It appears, from the evidence and pleading of the prisoner, that he 
did lead and command within the territory of Spain (lieing a subject of 
Great Britain) the Indians in war against the United States, those nations 
being at peace. It is an established principle of the laws of nations, that 
any individual of a nation making war against the citizens of any other 
nation, they being at peace, forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an outlaw 
and pirate. This is the case of Robert C. Ambrister, clearly shown by the 
evidence adduced. 

"The Commanding General orders that Brevet-Major A. C. W. Fan- 
ning, of the corps of artillery, will have, between tlie hours of eight and 
nine o'clock, a. m., A. Arbuthnot suspended by the neck with a rope until 
he is dead, and Robert C. Ambrister to be shot to death, agreeable to the 
sentence of the court. 



476 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

" John James Arbuthnot will be furnished with a passage to Pensacola 
by the first vessel. 

" The special court, of which Brevet Major-General E. P. G-ainea is 
President, is dissolved." 

The conclusion of this fell business shall be given in the 
words of an eye-witness — the young officer whose diary we 
have previously described and quoted : 

" On the evening of the twenty-eighth," continues the 
diary, " the court ended its labors and was dissolved, and 
before daylight on the twenty-ninth Jackson had marched 
with the army for Fort Gadsden, e% route for Pensacola. 
The writer of this was left at St. Mark's in charge of some 
forty sick and wounded men, who were to be conveyed to 
New Orleans. About sunrise an officer informed the prison- 
ers of their fate. Whatever may have been Ambrister's pre- 
vious hopes or fears, the shock was evidently severe. 

" ' What !' he exclaimed, ' Am I to be murdered ? How 
have I deserved this ?' 

" Overwhelmed for a moment, he uttered similar exclama- 
tions. Upon the officer remarking, 

Ambrister, since you must die, die like a man.' 
I will,' he exclaimed, ' but to think that I should die 
now like a culprit ! But Fortune has her favorites, and Fate 
must have her victims — I will show you that I can face Death 
manfully.' 

" Pacing the floor of the apartment for a few moments in 
silence, he then turned to Major Hess, who had been his ad- 
vocate before the court-martial, 

" ' Major, you say General Jackson has marched with his 
army ; is it not possible that he has left a pardon or a respite 
for me ?' 

"■ ' I fear not,' replied the Major. 

" ' Then,' said Ambrister, ' I am ready ; you shall see that 
I am not afraid to meet the Grim Monster.' 

" ' Not I,' exclaimed the major. ' My regiment has marched; 
my time for departure has come — farewell.' 

" His eyes filled with tears ; his hand met Ambrister's in 



(( c 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER '^7 

a convulsive grasp, and the brave, kind-hearted major rushed 
from the room. Ambrister threw himself upon a chair, and, 
for a few moments, was overcome by emotion. Then, rising 
calmly, he proceeded to dress himself in a blue dress coat, 
white linen vest and pantaloons, long white stockings and 
pumps, and putting two white cravats about his neck. He 
then tied a red silk sash about his waist ; but, immediately 
removing it, handed it to the writer, with a request that he 
would accept it as a mark of gratitude for the attentions he 
had bestowed upon him. 

" Having finished his toilet, he commenced pacing the 
apartment, conversing freely and cheerfully upon various 
topics connected with his history, hopes and disappointments. 
This he continued to do till the sound of the drum and fife 
was heard parading the platoon for his execution. 

" ' There,' said he, ' I suppose that admonishes me to be 
ready ; a sound I have heard in every quarter of the globe, 
and now to be heard by me for the last time.' 

" At this moment the officer in command of the platoon 
entered the room and informed him of the object of his mis- 
sion. Ambrister, without a word, stepped out, and, taking his 
place behind the officer and music, marched with a firm step 
to the foot of his grave. An orderly stepped forward to ])lace 
him in position, and, being at a loss for a bandage, Ambrister 
pulled one of the cravats from his neck and courteously handed 
it to the orderly, who immediately tied it over Ambrister's 
eyes. Ambrister then requested that he himself might be 
allowed to give the fatal signal ; to which the officer in com- 
mand replied, 

" ' Sir, there is an officer present that knows his duty.' 

" ' Then,' said Ambrister, ' it only remains for that officer 
to perform that duty,' 

" So saying, he straightened himself to his full height, 
both hands behind him, holding his hat, and being evidently 
able to see his executioners from under the bandage on his 
eyes. The signal was immediately given. The platoon fired, 
some shots taking effect in the head and others about thf 



475) LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

region of the heart, Ambrister fell forward and died without 
a struggle. 

" Ambrister was born in London in 1785, and was the 
second son of respectable parents of good fortune. He was 
educated for one of the liberal professions ; but, preferring 
that of arms, his father procured for him a lieutenancy in the 
marine service. Having been temporarily attached to an artil- 
lery regiment, he was present at the battle of Waterloo, in 
which he was wounded. Subsequently, when Napoleon left 
for St. Helena, he joined his command and proceeded with 
the fallen hero to the island of his exile. Remaining here but 
a short time, he was thence sent to the East Indies. Here 
he soon became involved in a personal difficulty with another 
officer, a duel was the result, in which Ambrister wounded 
his antagonist. A complete reconciliation between the two 
ensued, but the matter having been brought before a court- 
martial, Ambrister was suspended from his command for one 
year. He thereupon returned to London. Such a man as 
Ambrister could not long remain without some object to 
absorb his restless energy. His worship of Mars being thus 
compulsorily suspended, the result was natural : he fell in 
love with the daughter of a rich banker. He proposed, was 
accepted, and the wedding day was only delayed till he should 
be restored to his rank in the service. Thus, with the bright- 
est prospects before him, Ambrister determined to kill time in 
the interval by a visit to his uncle, the Grovernor of New Pro- 
vidence. Arrived there, in an evil hour he made the acquaint- 
ance of Alexander Arbuthnot and Francis the prophet ; the 
former engaged in the Indian trade, the latter a chief of tho 
hostile Indians in Florida. The spirit of adventure prompted 
him to accept an invitation from these two to visit the In- 
dians in Florida. Here his known relationship to the British 
governor and his own engaging manners soon made him a great 
favorite with the Indians, and here his evil genius urged him 
on to those indiscretions which eventually cost him his life. 

" Durmg Ambrister's short confinement at St. Mark's the 
writer was engaged in attending to some sick soldiers who 



1817.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 479 

occupied the room immediately adjoining that in which Am- 
brister was kept. During this time he saw and conversed 
with him constantly. In person Ambrister was tall and of 
fine prepossessing appearance. Engaging in manner, he dis- 
played natural abilities of a high order and a thorough 
education in the frequent conversations which his free and 
confiding nature prompted him to indulge in. Genial and 
whole-souled, he engaged the warmest sympathies of those 
who saw him during his imprisonment. 

" It was thought by some that Jackson would have lis- 
tened favorably to an application for mercy, had such been 
made by the prisoner.- This is hardly probable, nor did Am- 
brister, though undoubtedly tormented by apprehensions of 
the worst, believe that he would be put to death till his sen- 
tence was formally announced to hitn, when it was too late 
for an effort to avert his fate, as Jackson had already left 
with the army. Before his fate had been determined, he, 
on more than one occasion, during his excited conversations, 
said, 

" ' I should have no fears, as I am in the hands of Chris- 
tians. I know they will not murder me.' 

" He also repeatedly avowed that he had not the least 
hostile nor unkind feeling toward the United States. 

" His remains, at his request, were enveloped in his mili- 
tary cloak, before being deposited in their final resting-place 
in the sands of Florida. He has been followed to the grave 
by all his judges, save one — now known to the writer to be 
alive, — namely, Colonel George Elliot, of Sumner county, 
Tennessee, the worthiest of the worthy. 

" A few minutes after the death of Ambrister, Alexander 
Arbiithnot was suspended by the neck from the yard-arm of 
his own vessel. 

" Alexander Arbuthnot was nearly seventy years of age. 
He was a shrewd, intelligent man, of fine manners, posses- 
sing fine colloquial powers, rather taciturn, withal selfish, 
who exercised a large and controlling influence with the Indi- 
ans and negroes. 



480 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

" Within thirty minutes of the time of the execution of 
Ambrister, Arbiithnot was to be seen suspended by the neck 
at the end of the yard-arm of his vessel, some twenty feet 
above the water, quite dead. There were present a number 
of the Indians, that had come into the fort to sue for peace, 
that were greatly astonished to see the end of their leaders ; 
and besides, were greatly astonished and amazed to learn that 
General Jackson had hanged their prophet Francis, or Hellis 
Hajo, and Himollemico, their leading spirits. Mr. Hambly 
held frequent conversations with them, when they evinced 
great submission and astonishment at the prowess of Gen- 
eral Jackson, and acknowledged themselves to be fairly van- 
quished. Arbuthnot was about five feet ten inches high ; 
long, flowing white hair ; handsomely dressed in "a suit of 
black clothes. Indeed, it is fair to say, that in person he 
would remind the observer of Aaron Burr, the writer having 
seen both the personages at about or near the same age. He 
was decidedly an educated man of fine colloquial powers. 
After twenty minutes' suspension, he was let down, enveloped 
in a blanket, and placed by the side of Ambrister, without the 
presence of one to shed a friendly tear over their sad fate." 

" Among the spectators of the executions was a girl of 
seventeen who seemed to bo in deep distress, and to have no 
one to comfort her. It was no other than Milly, the daugh- 
ter of the prophet Francis, who had been so summarily 
hanged twenty days before. There was white blood in the 
veins of this beautiful maiden, as there was iu those of her 
father. She was a brunette, with long, flowing hair, keen 
black eyes, and finely-formed person. She was dressed in the 
manner of white women. At times she manifested no con- 
cern for the death of her father, and at other times she would 
be plunged into inconsolable grief. On this occasion she spoke 
to no one, and no one spoke to her. Mr. Hambly could not 
extract from her one word. 

" The poor girl had been extremely, though chastely, in- 
timate with Ambrister. Ambrister told me, while he was 
awaiting his trial, that when Francis was in England presents 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTEB. 481 

of dresses and other articles of female attire were given him 
for his daughter Milly. When these arrived at St. Marks, 
Ambrister accompanied Francis to his town, three miles from 
St. Marks, and remained domiciled in his house for a consid- 
erable time. There Ambrister said he had found a most in- 
teresting daughter of the prophet's, a most exquisitely hand- 
some girl of about seventeen summers, modest and coy, not 
bashful but natively diffident. When the father unpacked 
the presents for Milly and gave them to her, she was at some 
loss to know how to use them. The dresses were not such 
fits as could have been made in Paris or London. In the last 
extremity Milly applied to Ambrister for help, and, to his 
utter astonishment, he was quite as much at a loss as the girl. 
But by pinning and tucking on so beautiful a person, it was 
not long before Milly lost the appearance of a ' maid of the 
forest :' Ambrister claiming some credit for his suggestions, 
and believing that with proper practice he could become an 
adept. After wliich it was not long before he became a de- 
cided favorite with the family and the town. Francis gave 
intimation that he should be pleased to give his daughter in 
marriage to Ambrister with three hundred negroes, which 
Ambrister knew he dared not, at the peril of his high posi- 
tion, refuse to treat with becoming consideration and respect. 
Soon he had to escort Milly (I think the name in Indian is 
Malee) to visit the daughters of £he Spanish commandant at 
St. Mark's, two handsome Spanish young ladies. Milly was 
not long in taking steps to apply and fit her dresses. When 
properly adjusted, with her native modesty, she made rapid 
strides to his esteem. She was most beautiful, he said ; he 
loved the girl for her vktue and modesty. She could talk 
enough English to make herself understood, and she under- 
fitood the Spanish and Indian. Ambrister, in all his visits to 
the young ladies in the fort, was accompanied by Malee as his 
interpreter, and she often played off her little pranks on him, 
telling the young ladies at one time that they were married, 
at another that he was in love with her, but she had discarded 
him, and like pranks. 

VOL. II. — 31 



4S2 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1818. 

"Among the presents was a velvet riding hat, \vith feath- 
ers, fine bridle and saddle, too large for a pony, and but for her 
admirable skill in equestrianism would often have brought 
her dv^wn, but with the aid of which she often outrode him, 
even when he was best mounted on a black pony whose spirit 
could only at times be conquered by the application of the 
Spanish curb and rowel. In this way Ambrister passed some 
time with Francis and Malee (as we may call her). Malee 
could stand on the ground and bound into the saddle and ridt) 
oif, with her black, flowing hair and feathers streaming in the 
wind, before he could climb on his gray headed black ; Ma- 
lee's favorite gait being a gallop, hard for him to perform, but 
which he had to do to keep company with her. Ambrister 
declared that, except at the time he pinned Malee's dress, he 
was never permitted to put his hands on her. She rallied him 
for his leaving her and the pretty Spanish girls in the fort. 
All taken together, Malee's appearance was unique and hand- 
some in the extreme on horseback, particularW during the so- 
K)urn of Ambrister. 

" Arbuthnot came to St. Mark's with his vessel, when the 
family paid him a visit, dined with him, the commandant and 
ois family ; and when the vessel sailed Ambrister and Francis 
s^ent on board to Suwannee. 

" The writer saw Malee at St. Mark's on the 8th of April, 
the day her father was executed ; but has no knowledge of 
her having been there again until the 29th, the day Ambris- 
ter was shot. Her father's town was, as I have said, three 
miles from the fort. General Jackson's array was encamped 
between the two points. The army marched in the morning 
about four o'clock ; which was known to the town ; and pos- 
sibly curiosity brought Malee to St. Mark's with others. As 
she was about to cross the bridge over the ditch surrounding 
the fort, she with the others met the platoon in charge of 
Ambrister, and not being able to divine the cause of the cor- 
tege, stood and witnessed the execution of Ambrister. At 
this, it was said, she was much distressed, possibly more than 
at that of her father. It was said by the commandant's 



1818.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 483 

family, that Malee went to their house, and there gave full 
vent to her feelings. 

" A few words I will add respecting the subsequent life 
of this interesting girl. After General Jackson left, General 
Arbuckle was placed in command, and took into his servico 
Duncan McKrimmon, whose life Milly had saved. McKrim- 
mon manifested much gratitude toward Milly and asked her 
to marry him. The girl had lost all the property left her by 
her father, and often came to General Arbuckle in distress, 
begging for the restoration of her negroes, and for other as- 
sistance. Milly refused McKrimmon several times, regarding 
him as the author of her misfortunes. But, as General Ar- 
buckle joined his influence to McKrimmon's earnest solicita- 
tions, she yielded at last, and became his wife. They settled 
on a plantation south of Suwannee old town, where they lived 
very happily till 1836, when McKrimmon died, leaving Milly 
a widow with eight children. The long wars in Florida re- 
duced Milly to poverty again, from which it is doubtful if she 
ever recovered." 

Arbuthnot, it is said, died with decent composure, say- 
ing, with his last breath, that his country would avenge his 
death. 

Another fact respecting this tragedy. One of the negroes 
captured with Ambrister was named Polly dore. From one of 
General Jackson's later letters, February, 1822, to " Madame 
Catherine Sartorius," I learn why his life was spared, and 
what was done with him. " To convince you," wrote the 
General, " of the trouble I have taken to transmit informa- 
tion to the legal owners of Pollydore, I will briefly give a his- 
tory thereof. Pollydore was captured with arms in his hands 
at the Suwannee, in April, 1818— had been enlisted by Major 
Nicholas at St. Augustine in 1813 ; at the close of the war 
was handed over to the notorious Woodbine, and by him to 
the (also) notorious Ambrister. Having been taken with 
arms in his hands, under the character of a British soldier, 
our two governments being at peace, his life was forfoighted 
(sic), and he ought to have died ; but being informed that 



484 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, [1818 

Pollydore belonged to one of the daughters of Mr. Ontego, 
late Auditor of War at St. Augustine, and this information 
(coming) from Mr. Hambly, I was determined to have him 
preserved for them, and immediately wrote to St. Augustine, 
etc."'-' The letter gives a long detail of the trouble he had 
taken to find the owners. 

Such was the tragedy enacted at St. Mark's, in the year 
of our Lord 1818. Who can characterize it aright ? The 
execution of Arbuthnot, apart from all the extenuating cir- 
cumstances, was an act of such complicated and unmitigated 
atrocity, that to call it murder would be to defame all ordi- 
nary murderers. He was put to death for acts every one of 
which was innocent, and some of which were eminently praise- 
worthy. Even Ambrister's fault was one which General 
Jackson himself would have been certain to commit in the 
same circumstances. He sent a party to " oppose" the inva- 
sion of the province ; and even his seizure of Arbuthnot's 
schooner seems to have been done to provide his followers with 
the means of defense. Arbuthnot was convicted upon the 
evidence of men who had the strongest interest in his convic- 
tion. And who presided over the court ? Was it not the 
man whose treatment of the Fowltown warriors, first arro- 
gant and then precipitate, was the direct cause of the war 
and all its horrors ,^ 

Of all the men concerned in this tragedy, Greneral Jackson 
was, perhaps, the least blameworthy. We can survey the 
transaction in its completeness, but he could not. He carried 
out of the war of 1812 the bitterest recollections of Nichols 
and Woodbine, who had given protection, succor, and honor 
to the fugitive Creeks. A train of circumstances led him to 
the conclusion that Arbuthnot and Ambrister were still do- 
ing the work in Florida that Nichols and Woodbine had 
begun in 1814. He expressly says, in one of his dispatches, 
that, at the beginning of his operations, he was "strongly im- 
pressed with the belief that this Indian war had been excited 

* Autograph ooUoctiou of P. W. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia. 



1818.] AllBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 485 

by some unprincipled foreign agents/' and that the Seminoles 
were too weak in numbers to have undertaken the war, unless 
they had received assurances of foreign support. Woodbine 
had actually been in Florida the summer before, brought 
thither by Arbuthnot. To the " machinations" of these men 
General Jackson attributed the massacre of Lieutenant Scott, 
and considered them equally guilty. They were at length in 
his power, and he then selected fourteen of his officers to ex- 
amine the evidence against them. After three days' investi- 
gation those officers brought in a verdict that accorded ex- 
actly with his own previous convictions, as well as with the 
representations of Hambly, Doyle, Cook, and others who 
surrounded his person and had an interest in confirming his 
impressions. 

He never wavered in his opinion that the execution of Ar- 
buthnot and Ambrister was just and necessary. In a dispatch 
to the Secretary of War, written a few days after the execu- 
tion, he wrote : " I hope the execution of these two unprinci- 
pled villains will prove an awful example to the world, and 
convince the government of Great Britain, as well as her sub- 
jects, that certain, if slow, retribution awaits those unchris- 
tian wretches who, by false promises, delude and excite an 
Indian tribe to all the horrid deeds of savage war." Ben- 
jamin F. Butler said, in his eulogy of Jackson, delivered in 
New York after the death of the General : " Having men- 
tioned this incident, I feel it right to state my entire con- 
viction that in this, as in every other act of his public life, 
he proceeded under a deep sense of what he believed to be 
the injunction of duty ; and duty was ever to him as the 
voice of heaven. ' My God would not have smiled on me,' 
was his characteristic remark, when speaking of this affair to 
him who addresses you, \ had I punished only the poor, ig- 
norant savages, and spared the white men who set them on.' " 

This is not a justification ; for it is not permitted to a 
man to make mistakes which involve the lives of human 
beings. . ^ 

Arbuthnot was mistaken in supposing that his country 



486 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

would avenge his death. That the executions produced in- 
tense indignation in England, we learn from the work of Mr. 
Richard Rush, who was then the American minister at thfc 
Enfrlish court. The following are passages from Mr. Rush's 
" Residence at the Court of Loudon :" 

" July 30, 1818. The French embassador gave an enter- 
tainment to the Prince Regent. There were present all the 
foreign embassadors and ministers, Lord Castlereagh, Lord 
Melville, Lord Stewart, etc., the company being large." 

" ' What is it,' whispered to me in the course of the 
evening an embassador from one of the great powers, ' what 
is it toe hear about Pensacola ? Are you going to have dif- 
ficulty with Spain ?' I replied that I hoped not, ' May 1 
hear from you the circumstances — I should he glad to inform 
my court ivhat they are.' 1 said they were simply these." 
[Mr. Rush explains.] " The embassador said that Europe 
would look with interest upon the progress of the affair. I 
gave the same information to one of the ministers plenipo- 
tentiary. The latter remarked that the diplomatic corps 
were full of the news, ' for,' said he, ' ive have had nothing 
of late so exciting ; it smacks of war.' 

" January 7, 1819. Received a note from Lord Castle- 
reagh, requesting me to call on him to-day at four, at his pri- 
vate residence. It was dated last night and indorsed ' Imme- 
diate.' He was confined with the gout. I was shown into a 
dressing-room adjoining his chamber, where I found him on 

his couch." 

* w a a tf <i 

" He had sent for me on the cases of Arbuthnot and Am- 
brister. The British government, he remarked, had received 
from Mr, Bagot, their minister at Washington, a copy of the 
proceedings of the court-martial, which had been under full 
deliberation at a cabinet council. 

"The opinion formed was that the conduct of these in- 
dividuals had been unjustifiable, and, therefore, not calling 
for the special interference of Great Britain. 



1S18.] ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 487 

*^ Whilst announcing this result, he had also to say, that 
parts of the transaction were viewed us open to exception, 
whether as regarded some of the operations iu Florida, or the 
conduct of the commanding General of the United States, iu 
ordering Amhrister to he executed after the first sentence 
against him had hcen revoked. He then read me a dispatch 
drawn up hy the British government, and addressed to Mr. 
Bagot, which embraced the substance of his foregoing com- 
munication to me." 

"January 14, 1819. Received a note from Lord Castle- 
reagh, requesting me to call upon him. On my arrival, he 
said that the cases of Arhuthnot and Amhrister were making 
a deep impression on the public mind ; he witnessed it with 
concern, and he knew not what turn the subject might yet 
take when parliament met." 

-•'•i V- ii a f,i Sf 

" The executions became subsequently the subject of par- 
liamentary inquiry. Commentaries that might have been an- 
ticipated were made in debate ; but the ministers maintained 
their ground. Out of doors, excitement seemed to rise higher 
and higher. Stocks experienced a slight fall, under an appre- 
hension of war with the United States. The newspapers 
kept up their fire. Little alcquainted with the true character 
of -the transaction, they gave vent to angry declamation ; 
they fiercely denounced the government of the United States ; 
tyrant, ruffian, murderer, were among the epithets applied to 
the commanding General. He was exhibited in placards 
through the streets of London. The journals, without any 
distinction of party, swelled the general chorus ; the whig 
ani others in opposition taking the decided lead, whilst those 
in the tory interest, although more restrained, gave them 
countenance. In the midst of this din of passion, the minis- 
try stood firm. Better informed, more just, they had made 
up their minds not to risk the peace of the two countries on 
grounds so untenable. It forms an instance, a remarkable 
one, of the intelligence and strength of a government, disre- 
garding the first clamors of a powerful press and first errone- 



488 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

ous impulses of an almost universal public feeling. At a later 
day of my mission, Lord Castlereagh said to me that a war 
might have been produced on this occasion ' if the ministry 
had hut held up a finger. ' On so slender a thread do public 
affairs sometimes hang ! Plato says, that the complaisance i 
which produces popularity is the source of the greatest oper- 
iitions in government. The firmness of one man is perhaps the 
j)iv()t or which great events more frequently turn. I adopted 
and retain the beUef that this quality in Lord Castlereagh, 
under the emergency I have been describing, sustained by the 
same feeling in some of his colleagues in the cabinet, was the 
main cause of preventing a rupture between the two nations." 

To which may be added a paragraph from a London pa- 
per of the time : " This Jackson, notorious for his duels, was 
formerly a judge, and when he was once presiding in that ca- 
pacity a criminal on his circuit had escaped from the officers 
of justice. Judge Jackson ordered the sheriff to raise the 
jposse to pursue the offender, and advised him to summon him 
(Jackson) among others. The judge accordingly went at the 
head of the posse, and shot the offender (who resisted) with 
his own hand. He then returned to the judgment seat, re- 
ceived the report of the resistance and death of the individual, 
and gave an order for his burial ill due form." 

Upon this another London journal commented by remark- 
ing : " We can hardly believe that any thing so offensive to 
public decorum could be admitted, even in America!" 



CHAPTER XXXVIL 

IN COLLISION WITH THE GOVERNOR OF GEOROIA. 

Jackson Avas a terrible enemy. He was also a strenuous 
and generous friend. We have now to show his method of 
righting a grievous wrong done to some of the friendly In- 
dians who had followed him into Florida. 



I 



1818.] GEN. JACKSON AND GOV, RABUN. 489 

With the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambris- 
ter he supposed his work in Florida done. " I shall leave 
this," he wrote at St. Mark's on the morning of the day on 
which the trials began, " in two or three days for Fort Gads- 
den, and after making all necessary arrangements for the secu- 
rity of the positions occupied, and detaching a force to scoir 
the country west of the Appalachicola, I shall proceed direct 
for Nashville. My presence in this country can be no longer 
necessary. The Indian forces have been divided and scattered. 
Cut oif from all communication with those unprincipled agents 
of foreign nations who have deluded them to their ruin, they 
have not the power, if the will remain, of again annoying our 
frontier." 

He reached Fort G-adsden on the 2d of May. After rest- 
ing a few days he marched westward with twelve hundred 
Tennessee volunteers and regular troops, intending to " scour 
the country west of the Appalachicola," and then return home 
by easy marches. So say, at least, the public dispatches ; 
which, for the moment, we will follow. The General had 
gone but seven miles from Fort Gadsden Avhen he heard of 
the outrage upon the friendly Indians to which we have re- 
ferred. He halted his troops while he took the requisite 
measures to have the crime punished and the injury re- 
paired. 

We have mentioned, in a previous chapter, that on his 
march southward through Georgia, on his way to Fort Scott, 
he visited an Indian village, named Chehaw, the friendly war- 
riors of which supplied his half-starved troops with corn, and, 
enlisting in the service of the United States, accompanied him 
to Florida, Avhere they did good service. The Chehaw vil- 
lage, thus left defenseless, became the scene of a blundering 
outrage of the most shocking character. A certain Captain 
Obed Wright, of the Georgia militia, misled by false informa- 
tion, attacked the village. 

General Jackson received an account of this transaction 
from General Glascock, of the Georgia militia, who certairjy 
did not understate its horrors. " It appears," wrote Genera] 



490 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

Glascock, " that after Captain Wright assumed the command 
of Hartford, he obtained the certificates of several men on the 
frontier that the Chehaw Indians were engaged in a skirmish 
on the Big Bend. He immediately sent or went to the gov- 
ernor, and received orders to destroy the towns of Filemme 
and Oponee. Two companies of cavalry were immediately 
ordered out and placed under his command, and on the 22d 
he reached this place. He ordered Captain Both well to fur- 
nish him with twenty-five or thirty men to accompany him, 
having been authorized to do so by the governor. The order 
was complied with. Captain Bothwell told him that he could 
not accompany him, disapproved of the plan, and informed 
Captain Wright that there could be no doubt of the friend- 
ship of the Indians in that quarter, and stated that Oponee 
had brought in a public horse that had been lost that day. 
This availed nothing ; mock patriotism burned in their 
breasts ; they crossed the river that night and pushed for 
the town. When arrived there, an Indian was discovered 
grazing some cattle, he was made a prisoner. I am informed 
by Sergeant Jones that the Indian immediately proposed to 
go with the interpreter and bring any of the chiefs for the 
captain to talk with. It was not attended to. An advance 
was ordered, the cavalry rushed forward and commenced the 
massacre. Even after the firing and murder commenced, 
Major Howard, an old chief, who furnished you with corn, 
came out of his house with a white flag in front of the line. 
It was not respected. An order was given for a general fire, 
and nearly four hundred guns were discharged at him before 
one took efifect — he fell and was bayonetted — his son was also 
killed. These are the circumstances relative to the transac- 
tion. Seven men were killed, one woman and two children. 
Since then three of my command, who were left at Fort Scott, 
obtained a furlough, and on their way one of them v>'d8 shot, 
in endeavoring to obtain a canoe to cross the Flint." 

The aged chief, styled Major Howard, who was so barbar- 
ously massacred, was an uncle of General M'Intosh. M'Intosh 
wrote to the General : " My friend — when I returned to my 



1818.] GEN. JACKSON AND GOV. RABUN. 491 

town, I heard with regret that my uncle Howard and family 
had been murdered, and that their town was destroyed. If 
an Indian kills a white man I will have him punished. If a 
white man kills an Indian, he ought to be punished. I wish 
you to find out who has done this murder, and let me know 
what those Indians have done that made the white men kill 
our people." 

The Little Prince, too, wrote a curious letter on the sub- 
ject to his agent, General Mitchell : " My Great Friend : I 
have got now a talk to send to you. One of our friendly 
towns, by the name of Chehaw, has been destroyed. The 
white people came and killed one of the head men, and five 
men and a woman, and burnt all their houses. All our young 
men have gone to war with General Jackson, and there is only 
a few left to guard the town, and they have come and served 
us this way. As you are our friend and father, I hope you 
will try and find out, and get us satisfaction for it. You may 
depend upon it that all our young men have gone to war but 
a few that are left to guard the town. Men do not get up 
and do this mischief without there is some one at the head 
of it, and we want you to try and find them out." 

Every one will admit that the anger which blazed up in 
the heart of General Jackson when he received this mtel- 
ligencc was most natural and most righteous. He instantly 
dispatched a party to arrest Captain Wright, and convey him 
in irons to Fort Hawkins. The following letters, all dated 
on the same day, are of the kind that require no explana- 
tion : — ■ 

GENERAL JACKSON TO MAJOR DAVIS. 

" Headquarters DrvisoN of the South, » 
"May 7th, 1818. J 

" Sir : Tou will send, or deliver personally, as you may deem most ad- 
visable, the inclosed talk to Kanard, with instructions to explain the sub- 
stance to the Chehaw warriors. 

" You will proceed thence to Hartford, in Georgia, and use your endeavors 
to arrest and deliver over, in irons, to the military authority at Fort Hawkins, 
Captain Wright, of the Georgia militia, who has been guilty of the outrage 



492 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

against the woman and superannuated men of the Chehaw village. Should 
Wright have left Hartford, you will call upon the Governor of Georgia to 
aid you in his arrest. 

To enable you to execute the above, you are authorized to take a com- 
pany with you of the Tennesseaus that went from hence lately for Fort 
Scott, and await, if you think it necessary, the arrival of the Georgians, 
now on march, under Major Porter. 

" You will direct the officer commanding at Fort Hawkins to keep 
Captain Wright in close confinement, until the will of the President be 
known. 

" The accompanying letters, for the Secretary of War and Governor of 
Georgia, you will take charge of until you reach a post-office. 

" Andrew Jackson." 

GENERAL JACKSON'S TALK TO THE CHEHAW WARRIORS. 

[Inclosed with the above.] 

" To ttie Chiefs and Warrio7-s of the Chehaw Village^ on my march to the 

West hy the Appalachicoh.j May 7thj 1818. 

" Friends and Brothers : I have this moment received, by express, 
the intelligence of the unwarrantable attack of a party of Georgians on the 
Chehaw village, burning it, and killing six men and one woman. 

" Friends and brothers, the above news fills my heart with regret and 
my eyes with te.'.>' ^. When I passed through your village you treated me 
with friendship, Snd furnished my army with all the supplies you could 
Bpare; 'and your old chiefs sent their young warriors with me to fight and 
put down our common enemy. I promised you protection ; I promised 
you the protection and fostering friendship of the United States, so long as 
you continue to hold your father, the President of the United States, by 
the hand of friendship. 

" Friends and brothers, I did not suppose there was any American so 
base as not to respect a flag, but I find I am mistaken. .1 find that Captain 
Wright, of Georgia, has not done it. I can not bring your old men and 
women to life, but I have written to your father, the President of the 
United States, the whole circumstances of your case, and I have ordered 
Captain Wright to be arrested and put in irons, until your father, the 
President of the United States, make known his will on this distressing 
Bubject. 

" Friends and brothers, return to your village ; there you shall be pro- 
tected, and Captain Wright wiU be tried and punished for this daring out- 
rage of the treaty and murder of your people ; and you shall also be paid 
for your houses and other property that has been destroyed ; but you must 
not attempt to take satisfaction yourselves. This is contrary to the treaty 



1818.] GEN. JACKSON AND GOV. RABUN. 493 

and you may rely on my friendship, and that of your father, the President 
of the United States. 

" I send you by my friend, Major Davis, who is accompanied by a few 
of my people, and who is charged with the arrest and confinement of Cap- 
tain Wright. Treat them friendly, they are your friends ; you must not 
permit your people to kill any of the whites ; they will bring down on you 
destruction. Justice shall be done to you ; you must remain in peace and 
friendship with the United States. The excuse that Captain Wright has 
made for this attack on your village is, that some of your people were 
concerned in some murders on the frontiers of Georgia ; this will not ex- 
cuse him. I have ordered Captain Wright and all the officers concerned in 
this transaction in confinement, if found at Hartford. If you send some of 
your peojile with Major Davis, you will see them put in irons. Let me hear 
from you at Fort Montgomery. I am your friend and brother. 

" Andrew Jackson." 

GEN. JACKSON TO WILLIAM RABUN, GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA. 

" Seven miles advance of FoRT Gadsden, | 
May 7th, 1818. ) 

" Sir : I have this moment received by express the letter of G-eneral 
Gla.scock (a copy of which is inclosed) detailing the base, cowardly and in- 
human attack on the old women and men of the Chehaw village, while the 
warriors of that village were with me fighting the battles of our country 
against the common enemy, and at a time, too, when undoubted testimony 
had been obtained and was in my possession, and also in the possession of 
General Glascock, of their innocence of the charge of killing Leigh and the 
other Georgian at Cedar Creek. 

" That a Governor of a State should assume the right to make war 
against an Indian tribe, in perfect peace with and under the protection of 
the United States, is assuming a responsibility that I trust you will be able 
to excuse to the government of the United States, to which you will have 
to answer, and through which I had so recently passed, promising the aged 
that remained at home my protection, and taking the warriors with me in 
the campaign, is as unaccountable as it is strange. But it is still more 
strange that there could exist within the United States a cowardly monster 
in human shape that could violate the sanctity of a flag when borne by any 
person, but more particulaly when in the hands of a superannuated Indian 
chief, worn down with age. Such base cowardice and murderous conduct 
as this transaction affords has not its parallel in history, and shall meet with 
its merited punishmentt 

'You, sir, as Governor of a State within my military division have no 
"jght to give a military order whilst I am in the field; and this being au 



494 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

open and violent infringement of the treaty with the Creek Indians, Captain 
Wright must be prosecuted and punished for this outrageous murder, and I 
have ordered him to be arrested and to be confined in irons until the pleas- 
ure of the President of the United States is known upon the subject. If he haa 
left Hartford before my order reaches him, I call upon you as Governor of 
Georgia to aid in carrying into effect my order for his arrest and confine- 
ment, which I trust will be afforded, and Captain Wright brought to con- 
dign punishment for this unparalleled murder. It is strange that this hero 
had not followed the trail of the murderers of your citizens ; it would have 
led to Mickasucky, Avhere we found the bleeding scalps of your citizens; 
but there might have been more danger in this than attacking a village con- 
taining a few superannuated women without arms or protectors. This act 
will to the last age fix a stain upon the character of Georgia. 
" I have the honor, etc., 

" Andrew Jackson." 

GOVERNOR RABUN TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

"MiLLEDGEVILLE, GeOUGIA, ) 

"June 1, 1818. ) 

" Sir : I have lately had the honor to receive yours of the seventh ulti- 
mo, founded on a communication from General Glascock, relative to an 
attack recently made on the Chehaw village. Had you, sir, or General 
Glascock been in possession of the facts which produced the affair, it is to 
be presumed, at least, that you would not have indulged in a strain so in- 
decorous and unbecoming. I had, on the twenty-first of March last, stated 
the situation of our bleeding frontier to you, and requested you in respect- 
ful terms to detach a part of your overwhelming force for our protection, 
or that you would furnish supplies, and I would order out more troops ; to 
which you have never yet deigned ever to reply. You state in a very 
haughty tone that ' I, as governor of a State, within your military division, 
nave no right to give a military order whilst you are in the field.' Wretched 
and contemptible, indeed, must be our situation, if that be the fact. When 
the liberties of the people of Georgia shall have been prostrated at the feet 
of military despotism, — then, and not till then, will this imperious doctrine be 
tamely submitted to. You may rest assured that if the savages continue 
their depredations on our unprotected frontier, I shall think and act for 
myself in that respect. 

" You demand that Captain Wright be delivered in irons to your agent. 
Major Davis. If you, sir, are unacquainted with the fact, I beg leave to 
inform you that Captain Wright was not under your command, for he had 
been appointed an officer in the Chatham county militia, which had been 
drafted for tlie special purpose of assisting General Gaines in reducing 



I8l8.] GEN, JACKSON AND GOV. RABUN. 495 

Amelia Island. That object having been accomplished before our militia 
liad taken the field, General Gaines, as soon as their organization was com- 
pleted, assumed the right to order them to the frontier, without ever con- 
sulting the State authority on the subject. Captain Wright, at that time 
being in a state of debility, failed to march, and, of course, was not mus- 
tered into the service of the United States. He, however, followed on to 
Hartford, where, finding himself not likely to be received into the service 
of the United States, tendered liis services to command the contemplated 
expedition ; which were accordingly accepted. Having violated his orders 
by destroying the Chehaw village, instead of Hopounees and Phelemmies 
towns, against which the expedition was directed, I had, previous to re- 
ceiving your demand, ordered him to be arrested, but before he was appre- 
hended agreeably to my orders, he was taken by your agent, and after- 
wards liberated by the civil authority. I have since had him arrested and 
confined, anrt shall communicate the whole transaction to the President of 
the United States, together with a copy of your letters. 
" I have the honor to be, etc., 

" William Rabun." 



■1 



GENERAL JACKSON TO GOVERNOR RABUN. 

" Nashville, Tennessee, 
"August 1, 1818. 

" Sir : Your letter of the first of June was not received udtil this day, 
though a gasconading notice of such a communication having been written 
appeared long since in the Georgia journals. I am not disposed to enter 
into any controversy with you relative to our respective duties, but would 
recommend an examination of the laws of our country, before you hazard 
an opinion on the subject. ' The liberties of the people prostrated at the 
feet of military despotism' are cant expressions for political purposes. The 
better part of the community know too well that they have nothing to 
apprehend from that quarter. The military have rights secured to them 
by the laws of our country as well as the civil, and in my respect for those 
of the latter I will never permit those of the former to be outraged with 
impunity. 

" Your letter of the twenty-first of March,* on which you and the joui-- 
nalists dwell with so much force, you must have been aware could not have 
reached me in time to produce the object required. ' The situation of our 
bleeding frontier' at that period was magnified by the apprehensions of a 

* Governor Rabun had written on the twenty-first of March to General 
Jackson, asking that a body of troops might be detached from the army in Flor- 
ida for the protection of the frontiers of Georgia, where Indian murders con* 
iinued to be committed. 



496 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. 1818.] 

few frontier settlers, and those who had not understanding enough to pene- 
trate into the designs of my operations. You have forgot that Colonel 
Hayne, with three or four hundred Tennesseans, made a movement for the 
security of the pretended assailed point of Georgia, and did not pursue me 
until satisfied of the perfect security of that frontier. 

" Wliilst you are so tenacious of your own executive powers, it may be 
necessary to explain upon what authority Captain Wright received instruc- 
tions to call for a reinforcement from Fort Early, garrisoned by militia who 
you will not deny were at that time in the service of the United States, 
and under my command. 

"Andrew Jackson." 

GOVEENOR RABUN TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

"ExECDTivE Department, Ga., Milledgeville, ) 
"September 1st, 1818. S 

" Sir : I have lately had the honor to receive your letter of the 1st 
ultimo. I supposed that our correspondence on this subject had finally- 
terminated ; but a renewal on your part has induced me to make this short 
reply. 

"I find that the same angry disposition which (no doubt) dictated your, 
letter of the 7th of May last is still rankling in your breast. 

" It is very certain that I have never intentionally assailed your feel- 
ings, or wantonly provoked your frowns, and I flatter myself it is equally 
certain that I shall never find it necessary to court your smiles. ' You are 
not disposed to enter into a controversy with me relative to our respective 
duties, but recommend an examination of the laws of our country before I 
again hazard an opinion upon the subject.' Your advice is good and should 
be attended to (at least) by all public officers. I hope you will now per- 
mit me in turn to recommend to you that before you undertake to prose- 
cute another campaign, you examine the orders of your superiors with 
more attention than usual. 

" You assert that ' the better part of the community know too well that 
they have nothing to apprehend from a military despotism,' and in proof 
of this assertion it might have been well for you to have called my attention 
to your late proceedings at St. Mark's and Pensacola, as afitbrding conclusive 
evidence on that point. 

" The situation of our bleeding frontier, you say, 'was magnified by 
the apprehensions of a few frontier settlers and those who had not under- 
Btanding enough to penetrate into the design of your operations.' Indeed, 
sir, we had expected that your presence at the head of an overwhelming 
force would have afforded complete protection to our bleeding and dis- 
tressed citizens, bordering on an extensive and unprotected frontier ; but 



1818.] GEN. JACKSON AND GOV. RABUN. 497 

our prospects were only delusive ; for it would seem that the laurels ex- 
pected in Florida was the object that accelerated you more than tlie pro- 
tection of the ' ignorant' Georgians. 

" If ' Colonel Hayne and his three or four hundred Tennesseans made 
a movement for the security of the pretended assailed point of Georgia,' it 
certainly was a very unsuccessful one. 

" When you shall have explained to me by what authority you sent 
Major Davis into this State, with orders to apprehend Captain Wright (who 
was not under your command), and place him in irons, etc., then I shall ex- 
plain to you the motives which induced me to call for a reinforcement from 
Fort Early. " William Rabun." 

Both of these angry gentlemen forwarded narratives of the 
affair to Washington. Captain Wright was subsequently 
tried and, in effect, acquitted. Eight thousand dollars was 
allowed to the Chehaw Indians as compensation for the burn- 
ing of their village. The government, it seems, did not in- 
terfere with, or notice the dispute between Governor Kabun 
and General Jackson ; which, I believe, ended with the hos- 
tile correspondence given above. 

The office of secretary to General Jackson could not have 
been a sinecure. During the halt of the army on the 7th of 
May, he wrote, or caused to be written : 1. The order to Major 
Davis for the arrest of Captain Wright. 2. The talk to the 
Chehaw warriors. 3. The long and fiery letter to Governor 
Eabun. 4. A dispatch to the Secretary of War, inclosing 
copies of all the documents. 5. Coi)ies of all of his own let- 
ters for preservation. This business, which involved the writ- 
ing of forty or fifty pages of foolscap, having been completed, 
the march of the army was resumed Westward, by slow 
marches, impeded by swamps and swollen rivers, delayed by 
detaching parties to scour the country, the troops proceeded 
on their way for the space of fifteen days. They were still in 
the dominions of the Spanish king, and within one day's march 
of Pensacola. On the 23d of May another packet of dispatches 
reached general Jackson, and again the army halted while he 
read them. Again he acted with — "promptitude !" 

VOL. II. — 32 



498 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON [1818, 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

GEN. JACKSOiy'S SECOND VISIT TO PENSACOLA. 

With regard to this second halt of the army and its subse- 
quent change of route, there is an apparent discrepancy between 
the public and the private correspondence of General Jackson. 
From the public dispatch we are led to infer that an innocent 
army Avas marching peacefully along, a few miles to the north 
of Pensacola, when, lo ! an express from the Governor of that 
town arrived bearing a protest against its very presence on 
the sacred soil of the Bi)anish king. " It having come to my 
knowledge," wrote the Governor, " that you have passed the 
frontiers with the troops under your command, and that you 
are within the province of West Florida, which is subject to 
my government, I solemnly protest against this procedure as 
an offense towards my sovereign, exhorting you and requiring 
of you in his name to retire from it, as, if you do not, and 
continue your aggressions, I shall repel force by force. The 
consequence in this case will doubtless be the effusion of 
blood, and also an interruption of the harmony which has 
hitherto reigned between our respective nations ; but, as the 
repeller of an insult has never been deemed the aggi-essor, you 
■will be responsible both to God and man for all the fatal con- 
sequences which may result." 

The effect of this brief epistle upon the mind and move- 
ments of General Jackson, as explained by himself to tho 
Secretary of War, was the contrary of what the Governor of 
Pensacola anticipated. " This was so open an indication," 
wrote the General in reference to the protest, " of an hostile 
feeling on his part, after having been early and well advised 
of the object of my operations, that I hesitated no longer on 
the measures to be adopted. I marched for and entered Pen- 
sacola, Avith only the show of resistance, on the 24th of May. 
The Governor had previously fled to Fort Carios de Barrancas, 



1818.] SECOND VISIT TO PENSACOLA. 490 

where it was said he resolved upon a most desperate resist- 
ance." 

" I hesitated no longer," says the General. Then he had 
been meditating upon the subject. He had unquestiona- 
bly. I have before me a long private letter from General 
Jackson to his old friend George W. Campbell, of Tennessee, 
then the minister of the United States to Russia, which gives 
a history of the Seminole war from the beginning to the end. 
This confidential narrative accords with the public dispatches 
in every particular down to the time of the return of the army 
to Fort Gadsden. From that point we quc/te the General's 
letter : 

" I returned to Fort Gadsden, where, preparing to disband 
the militia force, I received information that five hundred and 
fifty Indians had collected in Pensacola, was fed by the Gov- 
ernor, and a party furnished by the Governor had issued forth 
and in one night slaughtered eighteen of our citizens, and 
that another party had, with the knowledge of the Governor, 
and being furnished by him, went out publicly, murdered a 
Mr. Stokes and family, and had in open day returned to Pen- 
sacola and sold the booty, among which was the clothing of 
Mrs. Stokes. This statement was corroborated by a report of 
Governor Bibbs. I was also informed that the provisions I 
had ordered for the supply of Fort Crawford and my army on 
board the United States schooner Amelia, was seized and de- 
livered at Pensacola. With a general detachment of regulars 
and six hundred Tennesseans I marched for Pensacola. While 
on my march thither I was met by a protest of the Governor 
of Pensacola ordering me out of the Floridas, or he would 
oppose force to force and drive me out of the Territory of 
Spain. This bold" (and he might have added Jacl'sonian) 
" measure of the Governor, who had alleged weakness as the 
cause of his non-fulfillment of the treaty with the United 
States, w^hen united with the facts stated, and of which then 
I had positive proof, that at that time a large number of the 
hostile Indians were then in Pensacola, who I had dispersed 
east of the Appalachicola, unmasked the duplicity of thti 
/ 



5(X) LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

Grovernor and his having aided and abetted the Indians in 
the war against us. I hastened my steps, entered Pensacola, 
took possession of my suppHes. The governor had fled from the 
city to the Barancas, where he had thoroughly fortified himself. 

"I demanded possession of the garrison to be held by 
American troops until a guarantee should be given for the 
fulfillment of the safety of the frontier. This was refused. 

" I approached the Barancas with one nine-pound piece 
and five eight-inch howitzers. They opened their batteries 
upon me. It was returned spiritedly, and the white flag 
went up in the evening, and the capitulation entered into 
which you have seen. It is true I had my ladders ready to 
go over the walls, which, I believe, the garrison discovered, and 
was afraid of a night attack and surrendered. When the flag 
was hoisted they had three hundred men in the garrison, and 
the others Avere sent out in the night across the bay before I 
got possession. 

" Thus, sir, I have given you a concise statement of the 
facts, and all I regret is that I had not stormed the works, 
captured the Governor, put him on his trial for the murder of 
IStokes and his family, and hung him for the deed. I could 
adopt no other way to ^ put an end to the ivar' but by pos- 
sessing myself of the strongholds that was a refuge to the 
enemy, and afforded them the means of offense. The officers 
of Spain having by their acts, identifying themselves with our 
enemy, become such, and by the law of nations, subjected 
themselves to be treated as such. Self-defense justified me in 
every act I did. I will stand justified before God and all 
Europe ; and I regret that our government has extended the 
com'tesy to Spain of withdrawing the troops from Pensacola 
before Spain gave a guarantee for the fulfillment of the treaty 
and the safety of our frontier. It was an act of courtesy that 
nothing but the insignificance and weakness of Spain can ex- 
cuse. But it is not my province to find fault with the acts 
of the government, but it may have reason to repent of her 
clemency."* 

* MSS. left by the Hon. George W. Campbell. 



1818.] SECOND VISIT TO PENSACOLA. 501 

Further details of the capture of Pensacola need not be 
given, for we have ah-eady lingered too long in Florida. Be- 
tween General Jackson and the Governor of Pensacola a vast 
amount of hostile correspondence passed — the General accus- 
ing — the Governor denying — the General sending statements 
and affidavits — the Governor retorting by the solemn assevera- 
tions of his officers. The letters and documents relating to 
this single affair would fill one hundred of these pages, but 
they were mere variations upon the single theme, " You did" 
— " I did not."- 

Five days after the surrender of the Barancas, General 

* The following are specimens of the evidence collected by General Jackson 
iu support of his charges against the Governor of Pensacola : — 

" George Skeate, being dul}' sworn, declares, that he has constantly resided 
iu the town of Pensacola since November, 1817. Since which ho has repeatedly 
Been at difierent times in said town from thirty to forty Indians; has not seen any 
ammmiition given to the Indians within the period above alluded to ; has heard 
and believes that horses, cattle, etc, were brought into this place by the Indians 
and sold, which deponent, however, did not see. Deponent believes that the late 
Governor Maset was well acquainted with the several murders that were com- 
mitted in the neighboring frontier. Knows of no supplies furnished by order of 
the Spanish government since about the month of March, 1817, when a supply 
of knives, a few blankets, and somo copper kettles, were furnished and delivered 
to a party of Indians, for the purpose, as was then said, of acting against the in- 
surgents who were expected. That the said party of Indians shortly disappeared, 
and nothing more was heard of them. 

" William Cooper, being duly sworn, declares that he has resided iu Pen-sa- 
cola since November, 1817. During which period he has frequently seen in the 
town and its vicinity several parties of Indians ; saw one, in particular, with some 
sheet lead, and has heard th.at the Indians had introduced some clothes into 
town that looked like American manufacture ; states, also, that Tapaulca was a 
Ecd Stick chief, and had been frequently about Pensacola for several years past. 

" Mr. Charles Le Jeune, being duly sworn, declares that he has resided in 
Pensacola since November, 1817. Since which he has frequently seen in this 
town or its vicinity parties of upwards of an hundred Indians encamped ; that 
these parties were armed either with rifles or with the arms that were fur- 
nished them by the English. That although ho cannot state that those parties 
had received ammunitic^ from the Spanish government here, he, nevertheless, 
tan and does state that/ the said parties were provisioned from the king's stores, 
by Prieto, king's storekeeper; that previous to November, 1817, the government 
was regularly in the habit of giving out ammunition to the Indians from a store 
which was expressljyfor that purpose here. 

''Charles Baron, (a resident of Pensaoola, being sworn, states tha^ about the 



502 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

Jackson Avas ready to return homeward. He left in Pensa- 
cola a sufficient garrison of American troops under the com- 
mand of Colonel King. On the eve of his departure he 
published the following address to the army : — 

" Fellow soldiers ! you were called into the 'field to punish savages and 
negroes who had, in a sanguinary manner, used the tomahawk and scalping 
knife upon our helpless citizens upon the frontier. You have pursued them 
to Mickasukey, St. Mark's, Suwannee, and lastly to this place, through an 
unexplored wilderness, encountering immense difficulties and privations, 
which you met with the spirit of American soldiers without a murmur. 

" Your General aaticipated a close of the campaign on his return tc 



latter end of April or beginning of May, 1818, a party of Indians, amounting to 
near one hundred, were in Peusacola with a quantity of plunder, which it was 
generally believed was taken at the time Stokes' family was murdered on the 
Escambia. The Indians sold this plunder openly to the inhabitants of Pensacola, 
and the deponent could not learn that the Spanish authorities at Peusacola made 
inquiries respecting it. The deponent further states that, at several times in the 
present year, 1818, he saw parties of Indians furnished with provisions and am- 
munition from the king's store, but he does not recollect the dates of these trans- 
actions. The deponent further states that ho has frequently heard Spanish officers 
at Pensacola justify the conduct of the Indians towards the United States, mani- 
festing in their conversation a decided hostility towards the Americans. 

"Pierre Senac deposes that, about the 1st of March last past, three consider- 
able parties of hostile Indians, one party under the command of Leon Lesassier, 
another under the command of Arnaud Gilmar (both lieutenants in his Catholic 
majesty's service), and the third commanded by an Indian chief, retired out of 
this town, and went dovm towards the neighborhood of Barrancas, where pro- 
visions and ammunition were regularly supplied to them by the Spanish govern- 
ment; that the said Indians were armed with guns which they had received from 
the English during the late war, and that they remained encamped within from 
one to three leagues of Barancas for the space of nearly a month ; that these In- 
dians, besides being armed with guns, had also tomahawks, which deponent un- 
derstood and believes were furnished by John Innerarity ; and that when the 
government caused the said parties to be thus assembled and equipped, they 
were collected at Barancas for the purpose, as deponent conceives, to elude 
the vigilance of such individuals in Pensacola as would not concur in such 
measures. ,^ 

"Deponent further states that since the said month -vf November last past he 
has seen brought in here by tlie Indians a quantity of cottonade and women's 
clothing, brought or said to have been brought from the American frontier ; that 
these things were pubUely sold in this town, notwithstanding it was notoriously 
known here that those articles and property had just been taken from those whom 
the Indians had kiUed on the American frontier." 



1818.] SECOND VISIT TO PENSACOLA. 503 

Fort Cxadsden, and hailed the hour with feelings of gratitude to Heaven at 
the prospect of relieving you from your labors, by placing you in quarters 
and returning you to your homos. But how great was the disappointment 
when he heard of the recent murders committed on the Alabama by a party 
of the enemy from Pensacola, where they were furnished with provisions* 
and ammunition by a friendly power. Under this state of things you were 
marched here, encountering difficulties which you alone can properly ap- 
preciate, meeting on the way the protest of the Governor of West Florida, 
threatening to employ force if we did not immediately evacuate the coun- 
try. This new and unexpected enemy was soon taught to feel the impotence 
of his threats. You entered Pensacola without resistance, and the strong 
fortress of Barrancas could hold out but one day against your determined 
courage. Your General can not help admiring the spirit and military zeal 
manifested when it was signified that a resort to storming would be neces- 
sary ; and would do injustice to his feehngs did he not particularly notice 
the judgment displayed by his aide-de-camp. Captain Gadsden, of the en- 
gineers, in the selection of the positions for the batteries, and the gallantry 
of his second aid, Captain M'Call, and Captain Young, of the topographical 
engineers, in aiding him to erect the works, under the fire of heavy batte- 
ries, within four hundred yards, as well as the skill and gallantry of Captain 
Peters, Lieutenants Minton and Spencer in the direction and management 
of the nine-pounder, and that of Lieutenant Sands and Scallon, charged 
with the management of the howitzer. Captain M'Keever, of the navy, 
merits, as he has on several occasions, his warmest thanks for his zealous 
cooperation and activity in landing two of his guns (should an additional bat- 
tering train have been necessary), and gallantly ofiering to bring his vessel 
before the water battery in the event of /storming the upper works. His 
officers and crew deserve his confldenoe. 

" The General assigns to Colonel, King the government of Pensacola and 
its dependencies, and that part of/the seventh department lying west of 
the Appalachicola and Chattahoochee rivers, until otherwise ordered by Gen- 
eral Gaines. 

" The colonel will take measures to have the volunteers novr at Pensa- 
cola relieved preparatory to their return march. The Tennessee volunteers 
will be rationed for five daj^s, and will forthwith move for Fort Montgomery, 
where they will receive further orders. 

" The General, in talking leave of Colonel King and his command, tenders 

to the officers and sold?iers an affectionate farewell." 

} 

A few of the/friendly Indians were sent Ly General Jack- 
son to Washingjj'on, to receive the reward due to their services 
and compensation for the losses they had sustained during the 
war. William ^Hambly, by request of the General, accompa- 

\ 



504 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

nied them. " You will find him," wrote General Jackson to 
the Secretary of War, "an honest and faithful friend to our 
government, and valuable for the information which he can 
, afford of Spanish policy and intrigue. He is well acquainted 
with all the transactions of foreign agents in this country, of 
their practices, etc., and how far encouraged by the Spanish 
authority, etc." 

The General was received on his return to Nashville with 
enthusiastic demonstrations of regard. A public dinner was 
given him, at which the following toasts were received with 
the greatest applause : 

"Major General Andrew Jackson. — His fame is the 
offspring of his own merit. While our armies are directed by 
the energies of his genius we have nothing to fear from foreign 
aggression. 

" Pensacola. — Spanish perfidy and Indian barbarity ren- 
dered its capture necessary. May our government never sur- 
render it from the fear of war. 

" Tennessee Volunteers. — The signal for their march is 
their country's call. They are always victorious — strangers 
to defeat. 

" The Kentucky Volunteers. — They have shown them- 
selves superior to the influence of prejudice. They are brave, 
and merit the applause of their country." 

Volunteer by General Jackson. — " Our Country. — 
Though forbearance is her maxim, she should show to foreign 
nations that under a pretence of neutrality her rights are not 
to be outraged." 

These sentiments, beyond doubt, expressed the general feel- 
ing of the country with regard to the recent events. The 
wildest rumors had been afloat in the newspapers during the 
campaign, which concealed from all but those who had access 
to official information the nature of what had been done. 
Curious indeed were some of the flying paragraphs of the 
time : Four thousand Seminole warriors in the field — their 
women and children conveyed to the middle of an impassable 
Bwamp — Nichols and the notorious Woodbine cooperating 



1818.] SECOND VISIT TO PEN8AC0LA. 505 

with two armed schooners and a body of fifty negro dragoons— 
Seminnles attempted to surprise General Jackson, but he 
rushed upon their ambush and killed five hundred of them, 
with the loss of a hundred of his own troops — one Captain 
Arbuthnot is there, supposed to be the infamous Woodbine 
in disguise, etc., etc., etc. 

The comments of the sedate and courteous Mr. Niles, 
whose Weekly Register is nov^ and will ever be an invaluable 
magazine of historical materral, may be taken as the opinion 
of the better informed. If Mr. Monroe had dictated the ar- 
ticle, it could not have expressed his opinion more exactly. 

" General Jackson," said the Weekly Register, " is a more 
extraordinary person than has ever appeared in our history. 
Nature has seldom gifted man with a mind so powerful and 
comprehensive, or with a body better formed for activity, or 
capable of enduring greater privations, fatigue and hardships. 
She has been equally kind to him in the quality of his heart. 
General Jackson has no ambition but for the good of his coun- 
try ; it occupies the whole of his views, to the exclusion of 
all selfish or ignoble considerations. Cradled in the war of 
the revolution ; nurtured amid the conflicts that afterwards 
took place between the Cherokee Indians and the Tennes- 
seans ; being always among a peojDle who regard the applica- 
tion offeree not as the ultiiiia 7-atio regum, but as the first 
resort of individuals, and who look upon courage as the 
greatest of human attribute, his character on this stormy 
ocean has acquired an extraordinary cast of vigor — a belief 
that any thing within the power of man to accomplish ht, 
should never despair of effecting, and a conviction that cour- 
age, activity, and perseverance can overcome what, to an or- 
dinary mind, would appear insuperable obstacles. In society 
he is kind, frank, ytnaifected and hospitable, endowed with 
much natural gragfe and politeness, without the mechanical 
gentility and artidcial, flimsy polish to be found in fashion- 
able life. / 

" Among the/ people of the West his popularity is un- 



bounded — old and young speak of him with rapture and at 



506 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

his call fifty thousand of the most efficient warriors on this 
continent would rise armed and ready for an enemy. 

" Having entered the military service of his country at a 
late period in life, General Jackson appears unaware of the 
necessity of strict discipline and subordination, and being ut- 
terly fearless of responsibility himself, and always taught to 
believe that his personal liability would be a justification of 
his conduct, he does not sufficiently reflect how intimately 
the character of the country is* associated with his own, now 
he is an officer ; and that although he may freely oifer his 
personal sacrifice, yet it ^places the government in a most deli- 
cate situatio7i to accept of it."'-' 

General Jackson continued, even after his return home, to 
exercise military autliority in Florida. He received a dis- 
patch informing him that some of the hostile Indians had ob- 
tained supplies from the Governor of St. Augustine. Jackson 
immediately ordei'ed General Gaines to investigate the charge, 
and, if he found it true, to expel the Sj^anish garrison and 
take possession of the post. Before this order could be obeyed, 
however, it was countermanded by the Secretary of War. 



CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 

The proceedings of General Jackson had indeed placed 
the government in a " delicate situation." The wounded 
pride of Spain was to be healed, if possible. Ominous ques- 
tions from the British ministrj^ had to be answered in some 
way. In a few months Congress would be making awkward 
inquiries and asking for documents — Congress, whose fore- 
most man was a certain Henry Clay, not very fnendly to the 
administration of Mr. Monroe, for reasons public and personal 

* Niks' Weekly Register, vol. xlv., p. 399 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 507 

There was also a party interested in these affairs — the people 
of the United States, namely — who were then acquiescent 
because ignorant. But how would it bo when the late events 
were fully revealed, and subjected to the criticism of a hos- 
tile press ? And then there was General Jackson ; he must 
not be oifended. Among the members of the cabinet, three 
of whom had i^rcsidential aspirations, who would choose to 
encounter the shock of Jackson's invincible will, or of hig 
invincible popularity .^ The President, too, though he had 
" forgotten" the confidential liliea letter, was bound to Gen- 
eral Jackson by many ties — ties of gratitude, affection, and 
interest. 

The situation was " delicate" in the extreme. It was also 
pressing. The Spanish minister resident at Washington was 
protesting, and still protesting ; and, ere long, from Madrid 
itself came a dispatch which could not be disregarded. It 
was the production of Don Jose Pizarro, the Spanish minis- 
ter for foreign affairs, who made certain explicit demands of 
the goternment of the United States, and declared that until 
those demands were complied with, the negotiations so long 
pending for the cession of Florida were suspended. General 
Jackson, he said, had " desolated with fire and sword every- 
thing upon the Spanish territory ;" had attacked Florida 
" in the most revolting manner ;" had taken by force the 
Spanish fortresses, made the garrisons prisoners, and " sent 
them out of the province where his Majesty had commanded 
them to serve." " Nay," continued Seiior Pizarro, " sub- 
jects of powers in friendship with his Majesty have been exe- 
cuted upon Spanish ground, and this act of barbarity cloaked 
with judicial forms, which, in that situation, and in these cir- 
cumstances, can only be considered a refinement of cruelty." 
The King, his master, had, accordingly, ordered him to an- 
nounce to the government of the United States that the 
" negotiation pend^^g between the two powers is, and must 
remain, interrupted and broken off, till the government of 
the United State^ has marked the conduct of General Jack- 
son in a manneri'suitable to its honor, and which, it seems. 



508 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

can be no other than to disapprove of the excesses committed; 
to give orders to have tilings placed on the same footing as 
as they were in before the invasion ; and to inflict an appro- 
priate punishment on the author of so many disorders." At 
the same time, Senor Pizarro could not omit to say hoAV much 
he regretted that " this unexpected obstacle should occur just 
at the time when he flattered himself with the hope of seeing 
the political relations, and the most perfect harmony between 
the two governments, reestablished upon solid and durable 
foundations." 

Many and protracted were the cabinet discussions of this 
subject during the months of July and August, 1818. From 
those discussions the most important political events were 
afterwards made to take their rise — events which have not 
yet ceased to influence the politics of the country. The 
course pursued and the opinions held by each of the distin- 
guished men who took part in the deliberations of the cabi- 
net, we are able to exhibit in his own language. 

Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of War, the youngest mem- 
ber of the cabinet, shall speak first. In a letter of Mr. Cal- 
houn to General Jackson, dated May 27th, 1830, these words 
occur : "The questions involved were numerous and impor 
tant : whether you had transcended your orders ; if so, wha.t 
course ought to be adopted ; what was the conduct of Spain 
and her officers in Florida f what was the state of our rela- 
tion's with Spain, and, through her, with the other European 
powers ; — a question, at that time, of uncommon complica- 
tion and difficulty. These questions had all to be carefully 
examined and weighed, both separately and in connection, 
before a final opinion could be wisely formed ; and never did 
I see a deliberation in which every point was more carefully 
examined, or a greater solicitude displayed to arrive at a cor- 
rect decision. I was the junior member of the cabinet, and 
had been but a few months in the administration. As Secre- 
tary of War, I was more immediately connected with the 
questions whether you had transcended your orders, and, if 
60, what course ought to be pursued. I was of the impres- 



1818.J THE ADMINISTRATION PERTLEXED, 50S 

eion that you had exceeded your orders, and had acted on 
your own responsibility ; but I neither questioned your pa- 
triotism nor your motives. Believing that where orders were 
transcended, investigation, as a matter of course, ought to 
follow, as due in justice to the government and the officer, 
unless there be strong reasons to the contrary, I came to the 
meeting under the impression that the usual course ought to 
be pursued in this case, which I supported by presenting fully 
and freely all the arguments that occurred to me." 

Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter to 
Mr. Forsyth, dated April 30th, 1830, gives the following 
statement of what occurred at the meeting referred to by Mr. 
Calhoun : " My own views on the subject had undergone a 
material change after the cabinet had been convened. Mr. 
Calhoun made some allusion to a letter the G-eneral had 
written to the President, who had forgotten that he had re- 
ceived such a letter, but said if he had received such a one he 
could find it, and went directly to his cabinet and brought the 
letter out. In it General Jackson approved of the determina- 
tion of the government to break up Amelia Island and Gal- 
veztown, and gave it also as his opinion that the Floridas ought 
to be taken by the United States. He added, it might be a deli- 
cate matter for the Executive to decide ; but if the President 
approved of it he had only to give a hint to some confidential 
member of Congress, say Johnny Rhea, and he would do it, 
and take the responsibility of it on himself, I asked the 
President if the letter had been answered. He replied, no ; 
for that lie had no recollection of having 7'eceived it. I then 
said that I had no doubt that General Jackson, in taking 
Pensacola, believed that he was doing what the Executive 
wished. After that letter was produced, unanswered, I should 
have opposed the infliction of punishment upon the General, 
who had considered the silence of the President as a tacit 
consent ; yet it was after this letter was produced and read 
that Mr. Calhoun made his proposition to the cabinet for 
punishing the General." 

Upon the publication of this letter, in 1830, Mr. Monroe 



510 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818 

and every member of his cabinet declared that Mr. Crawford's 
memory had deceived him with regard the Khea letter. They 
all concurred in the belief that that letter had neither been 
produced nor mentioned at the meetings of the cabinet. Mr. 
Wirt, the Attorney General at the time, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
Adams, Mr. Monroe, were all equally explicit on the point. 
We are, therefore, bound to believe that the Ehea letter did 
not enter into the cabinet deliberations. 

With the opinion of Mr. Calhoun, that General Jackson 
had transcended his orders, the President himself concurred, 
as we shall see in a moment. 

The course' of Mr. Adams remains to be considered. He, 
and he alone, justified the conduct of General Jackson in 
toto! Before quoting Mr. Adams' own language, I will 
extract a few words from his recent biography by Dr. Josiah 
Quincy : " In July, 1818, news came that General Jackson 
had taken Pensacola by storm — a measure which excited uni- 
versal surprise. But one opinion appeared at first to prevail 
in the nation — that Jackson had not only acted without, but 
against, his instructions ; that he had commenced w\ar upon 
Spain, which could not be justified, and in which, if not dis- 
avowed by the administration, they would be abandoned by 
the country. Every member of the cabinet, the President 
included, concurred in these sentiments, with the exception 
of Mr. Adams. He maintained that there was no real, though 
an apparent violation of his instructions ; that his proceed- 
ings were justified by the necessity of the case, and the mis- 
conduct of the Spanish commandant in Florida. Mr. Adams 
admitted that the question was embarrassing and complicated, 
as involving not merely an actual war with Spain, but also 
the power of the Executive to authorize hostilities without a 
declaration of war by Congress. He averred that there was 
no doubt that defensive acts of hostility might be authorized 
by the Executive, and on this ground Jackson had been author- 
ized to cross the Spanish frontier in pursuit of the Indian 
enemy. His argument was, that the question of the consti- 
tutional authority of the Executive was in its nature deft^u- 



1818.J THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 511 

give ; that all the rest, even to the taking the Fort of Barancaa 
by storm, was incidental, deriving its character from the ob- 
ject, which was not hostility to Spain, but the termination 
of the Indian war. This was the justification offered by Jack- 
son himself^ who alleged that an imaginary air-Kne of the 
thirty-first degree of latitude coukl not afford protection to 
our frontier wliile the Indians had a safe refuge in Florida ; 
and that all his operations had been founded on that consi- 
deration. ... To the members of the cabinet he ad- 
mitted that it was requisite to cari-y the reasoning on his 
principles to the utmost extent they would hear to come to 
this conclusion ; yet he maintained that, if the question were 
dubious, it was better to err on the side of vigor than of weak- 
ness, of our own officer than of our enemy. There was a 
large portion of the public who coincided in o})inion with 
Jackson, and if he were disavowed, his friends would assert 
that he had been sacrificed because he was an obnoxious man ; 
that, after having had the benefit of his services, he was aban- 
doned for the sake of conciliating the enemies of his country, 
and his case would be compared with that of Sir Walter 
Raleigh." 

Mr. Adams' opinions prevailed only in part. The final 
conclusions of the administration, in which every member at 
last concurred, were these : 1. General Jackson should be 
justified and applauded. 2. His taking of the Spanish posts 
should be declared to be his act — his just and necessary act, 
but one not authorized by the government, and one which 
the government had not the constitutional power to author- 
ize. 3. Pensacola should be restored unconditionally to any 
Spanish officer duly authorized to receive it. 4. St. Mark's 
should be restored as soon as a Spanish force competent to 
hold it and protect the frontiers should arrive to take posses- 
sion. 5. That competent force must be not less than two 
hundred and fifty men. 

The biographer just quoted gives Mr. Adams' own com- 
ments upon^his solution of the difiiculty. " On this deter- 
mination," says Dr. Quincy, "Mr. Adams finally gave up his 



512 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

opposition, and acquiesced in the opinion of every otlier mem ■ 
bar of the cabinet, remarking on this result : ' The adminis- 
tration are placed in a dilemma, from which it is impossible 
for them to escape censure by some, and ftictious crimination 
by many. If they avow and approve Jackson's conduct, they 
incur the double responsibility of having made a war against 
Spain, in violation of the Constitution, without the authority 
of Congress. If they disavow him, they must give offense to 
his friends, encounter the shock of his popularity, and have 
the appearance of truckling to Spain. For all this I should 
be prepared ; but the mischief of this determination lies 
deeper. 1. It is weakness, and confession of weakness. 2, 
The disclaimer of power in the Executive is of dangerous 
example, and of evil consequences. 3. There is injustice to 
the officer in disavowing him, when in principle he is strictly 
justifiable. These charges will be urged with great vehemence 
on one side, while those who would have censured the other 
course will not support or defend the administration for 
taking this. I believe the other would have been a safer and 
a bolder course.' " 

The author adds : "A wish having been expressed that 
it should be stated publicly that the opinion of the members 
of the cabinet had been u7ianimous, Mr. Adams said that he 
had acquiesced in the ultimate determination, and would 
cheerfully bear his share of the responsibility ; but that he 
could not in truth say it had been conformable to his o^nnion, 
for that had been to approve and justify the conduct of Jack- 
son, whereas it was disavowed, and the place he had taken 
was to be unconditionally restored. Writing about the affairs 
of Florida at this time, Mr. Adams observed : ' With these 
concerns, political, personal, and electioneering intrigues are 
mingling themselves, with increasing heat and violence. This 
government is assuming daily, more and more, a character of 
cabal and preparation, not for the next presidential election, 
but for the one after ; that is, working and counterworking, 
with many of the worst features of elective monarchies 



1818,] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 513 

Jackson has made for himself a multitude of friends, and 
still more enemies.' " 

Mr. Adams' defense of General Jackson's conduct in 
Florida, as contained in his reply to the demands of Seuor 
Pizarro, plays an important part in the history of these 
affairs. It convinced the people of the United States. It 
went far toward convincing the Spanish government. It 
silenced Lord Castlereagh. It averted war. Jefferson, from 
his retreat at Monticello, wrote to indorse its sentiments, 
to praise its composition, and to recommend that it be trans- 
lated into every language and sent to every court in Europe. 
Never has a diplomatic paper had a success more signal. To 
this day, it will please and satisfy every man who reads it, 
except alone the individual who, before he reads it, examines 
carefully and candidly the documents upon which it is 
founded. That individual, and he alone, will agree with the 
scribe who is writing this audacious sentence, that Mr. 
Adams' defense, so eloquent, so extolled, so successful, is the 
most flagrant piece of special pleading to be found in the 
diplomatic records of the United States. It is a rare piece 
of lawyer's craft. It is an ingenious plea. Some essential 
facts of the case it omits ; others it misstates ; others it per- 
verts. 

The form of this famous document is narrative. Begin- 
ning with the exploits of Colonel Nichols and Captain Wood- 
bine in Florida during the war of 1812, Mr. Adams gives a 
history of events in that province down to the second capture 
of Pensacola by Greneral Jackson in 1818. Colonel Nichols' 
treaty with the Seminoles after the war is duly ridiculed. 
Those Indians, Mr. Adams asserts, were "persuaded" by 
Nichols that they had a right to all the Creek lands under 
the treaty of Ghent. The affair of the Negro Fort is correctly 
related. Then Mr. Adams falls upon poor Arbuthnot, and 
heaps the Pelion of vituperation upon the Ossa of misstate- 
ment. Mr. Adams has been called a cold man ; but in cha- 
racterizing this poor, dead Scottish trader, he warms up to 
his work, and pours forth a lava-flood of indignant eloquence, 
VOL. u.— 33 



514 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818, 

Arbuthnot, he said, came to Florida as "the successor of 
Colonel Nichols in the employment of instigating the Semi- 
nole and outlawed Ked Stick Indians to hostilities against the 
United States, by reviving the pretense that they were enti- 
tled to all the lands which had been ceded by the Creek na- 
tion to the United States in August, 1814." He proceeds to 
say, that " no sooner did Arbuthnot make his appearance 
among the Indians, accompanied by the Prophet Hellis Hajo, 
reiurned from his expedition to England, than the peaceful 
inhabitants on the borders of the United States were visited 
with all the horrors of savage war ; the robbery of their, prop- 
erty, and the barbarous and indiscriminate murder of women, 
infancy, and age." 

Not a word about Fowltown — not one ! No allusion to it 
even. By no means. It was the "firebrand," Arbuthnot, 
that did all the mischief ; Arbuthnot, the " pretended trad- 
er," aided by his confederates, Ambrister, McGregor, and the 
notorious Woodbine. It was they who induced the Indians 
to take the little children by the heels and dash out their brains 
on the side of the boat. 

Mr. Adams is not sparing of his adjectives in speaking of 
these men, " Is this narrative," he asks, " of dark and com- 
plicated depravity ; this creeping and insidious war, both 
against Spain and the United States ; this mockery of pa- 
triotism ; these political philters to fugitive slaves and Indian 
outlaws ; the perfidies and treacheries of villains incapable 
of keeping their faith, even to each other, all in the name of 
South American liberty, of the rights of runaway negroes, and 
the wrongs of savage murderers — all combined and projected 
to plunder Spain of her provinces, and to spread massacre 
and devastation along the borders of the United States — is 
all this sufficient to cool the sympathies of his Catholic Maj- 
esty's government, excited by the execution of these two ' sub- 
jects of a power in amity with the king T The Spanish gov- 
ernment is not at this day to be informed that, cruel as war 
in its mildest forms must be, it is, and necessarily must be, 
doubly cruel when waged with savages ; that savages make 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 515 

no prisoners but to torture them ; that they give no quarter ; 
that they jaut to death without discrimination of age or sex ; 
that these ordinary characteristics of Indian warfare have been 
applicable, in their most heart-sickening horrors, to that war 
left us by Nichols as his legacy, reinstigated by Woodbine. 
Arbuthnot, and Ambrister, and stimulated by the approba 
ton, encouragement, and the aid of the Spanish commandant 
at St. Mark's." 

To illustrate the horrors of the war said to have been ex- 
cited by these men, Mr. Adams adduces tlu'ee occurrences, all 
but one of which took place before Arbuthnot had ever set 
foot on the soil of Florida. The first was the case of the sailor, 
Daniels, who was tarred and burnt alive by the negroes of 
Negro Fort in 1816. The second was the murder of Mrs. 
Garrett in February, 1817, which General Mitchell expressly 
states was an act of retaliation for the murder of Indians by 
white men. The third was the massacre of Lieutenant Scott, 
which, we know, was the Seminole revenge for General Gaines' 
attack upon Fowltown, and occurred while Arbuthnot was at 
New Providence. 

Mr. Adams concluded his performance by a threat. " If," 
said he, " the necessities of self-defense should again compel 
the United States to take possession of the Spanish forts and 
places in Florida," it was due to Spain that the United States 
should "declare, with the candor and frankness that becomes 
us, that another unconditional restoration of them must not 
be expected ; that even the President's confidence in the good 
faith and ultimate justice of the Spanish government will 
' yield to the painful experience of continual disappointment ; 
and that, after unwearied and almost unnumbered appeals 
to them, for the performance of their stipulated duties, in 
vain, the United States will be reluctantly compelled to 
rely for the protection of their borders upon themselves 
alone." 

This torrent-like document carried every thing before it. 
The President was able to announce, on the meeting of Con- 
gress, that the relations between Spain and the United States 



516 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

were not materially different from what they had been a year 
before. 

Mr, Monroe and Mr, Calhoun were both aware that the 
restoration of the Spanish posts was a measure likely to give 
extreme disgust to General Jackson ; and both of them took 
particular pains to reconcile him to that prudent conclusion. 
In communicating the requisite orders the Secretary of War 
used apologetic language, " It appears to me," wrote Mr. 
Calhoun to the General in September, " that a certain degree 
of caution (not from the fear of the holy alliance) ought, at 
this time, to mark our policy. A war with Spain, were it to 
continue with her alone, and were there no great neutral 
powers to avail themselves of the opportunity of embarrassing 
us, would be nothing ; but such a war would not continue 
long without involving other parties, and it certainly would 
in a few years be an English war. In such a war I would 
not fear for the fate of our country ; but, certainly, if it can 
be prudently and honorably avoided for the present, it ought 
to be. We want time, time to grow, to perfect our forti- 
fications, to enlarge our navy, to replenish our depots, and 
to pay our debts, I speak to you frankly, knowing your 
zeal for our country, with whose glory yours is now iden- 
tified. No one who has examined my political course will, I 
am sure, think that these opinions are influenced by timid 
councils," 

General Jackson remained for many years under the fixed 
impression that the member of the cabinet who had proposed 
and advocated an investigation of his conduct by a court of 
inquiry was Mr. Crawford, not Mr, Calhoun, His old en- 
mity to the Georgian made him a ready listener to the insinua- 
tion. In the course of the summer, too, appeared a letter in 
a Georgia paper, and another in a Nashville paper, distinctly 
Btating that the cabinet had been divided in opinion ; that 
Mr, Crawford had condemned the course of General Jackson, 
who had been warmly defended by Mr. Adams and Mr. Cal- 
houn. The General informs us in his Exposition that he en- 
tirely believed this. Colonel A. P. Hayne, of South Carolina, 



I 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED, 517 

Inspector General, the friend and fellow-citizen of Mr. Cal- 
houn, wrote to General Jackson from Washington in August : 
" The course the administration has thought proper to adopt 
is to me inexplicable. They retain St. IfarJc's, and in the 
same breath give up Pcnsacola. Who can comprehend this ? 
The American nation possesses discernment, and will judge 
for themselves. Indeed, sir, I fear that Mr. Monroe has, on 
the present occasion, yielded to the opinion of those about 
him. I cannot believe that it is the result of his own honest 
convictions. Mr. Calhoun certainly thinks with you alto- 
gether, although, after t^ie decision of the cabinet, he must, of 
course, nominally support what has been done." And again, 
in January, 1819 : " Since I last saw you, I have traveled 
through West and East Tennessee, through Kentucky, through 
Ohio, through the western and eastern part of Pennsylvania, 
and the whole of Virginia — have been much in Baltimore and 
Philadelphia ; and the united voice of the people of those 
States and towns (and I have taken great pains to inform 
myself) approve of your conduct in every respect. And the 
people of the United States at large entertain precisely the 
same opinion with the people of those States. So does the 
administration, to wit : Mr. Monroe, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. 
Adams. Mr. Monroe is jour friend. He has identified you 
with himself Mr. Adams has done honor to his country and 
himself"* 

Nothing occurred to disturb the impression thus fastened 
upon the General's mind for more than twelve years, during 
which he looked upon Mr. Calhoun as one who had been his 
champion in the hour when he had needed a champion. Mr. 
Crawford he regarded as the man who had desired to make 
the very services he had rendered his country the means of 
his ruin. 

When the cabinet had reached a final decision of the ques- 
tions relating to Florida, the President himself undertook the 
aot very easy task of reconciling General Jackson to the sur- 

* Exposition, Benton's Thirty Years, vol i., p. 173. 



518 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818 

render of the posts. A long letter from Mr. Monroe to the 
General, blending mild rebuke with ingenious compliment, 
and explaining the necessity of the suiTcnder, reached the 
Hermitage a few weeks after the return of its master from 
Florida. Neither this letter, long as it was, nor the corre- 
spondence which ensued, can be omitted from these pages. 
They will particularly interest those who are curious to know 
the inner workings of public affairs, and by what processes 
public documents are sometimes, to use a vulgar Avord, 
"cooked." Mr. Monroe's first letter is especially note- 
worthy : — , 

PRESIDENT MONROE TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

"Washington, July 19th, 1818. 

"Dear Sir: I received, lately, your letter of June 2d, by Mr. Hambly, 
at my farm in Loudoun, to which I had retired to await your report, and 
the return of our commissioners from Buenos Ayres. In reply to your 
letter, I shall express myself with the freedom and candor which I have 
invariably used in my communications with you. I shall withhold nothing 
in regard to your attack of the Spanish posts, and occupancy of them, par- 
ticularly Pensacola, which you ought to know ; it being an occurrence of 
the most delicate and interesting nature, and which, without a circumspect 
and cautious policy, l<||Jiing to all the objects which claim attention, may 
produce the most serious and unfavorable consequences. It is by a knowl- 
edge of all the circumstances, and a comprehensive view of the whole sub- 
ject, that the danger to which this measure is exposed may be avoided, 
and all the good which you have contemplated by it, as I trust, be fully 
realized. 

" In calling you into active service against the Seminoles, and com- 
municating to you the orders which had been given just before to General 
Gaines, the views and intentions of the government were fully disclosed 
in respect to the operations in Florida. In transcending the limit pre- 
scribed by those orders you acted on your own responsibility, on facts and 
circumstances which were unknown to the government when the orders 
•were given, many of which, indeed, occurred afterwards, and which you 
thought imposed on you the measure, as an act of patriotism, essential to 
the honor and interests of your country. 

" The United States stand justified in ordering their troops into Florida 
in pursuit of their enemy. They have this right by the law of nations, if 
the Seminoles were inhabitants of another country, and had entered Florida 
to elude our pursuit. Being inhabitants of Florida, with a species of sove- 



1818] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 519 

reignty over that part of the territory, and a right to the soil, our right to 
give such an order is the more complete and unquestionable. It is not an 
act of hostility to Spain. It is the less so, because her government is bound 
by treaty to restrain by force of arms, if necessaiy, the Indiar.s there from 
coramitting hostilities against the United States. 

" But an order by the government to attack a Spanish post would 
assume another character. It would authorize war, to which, by the prin- 
ciples of our Constitution, the Executive is incompetent. Congress alone 
possesses the power. I am aware that cases may occur where the com- 
manding general, acting on his own responsibility, may with safety pass 
this limit, and with essential advantage to his country. The oflicers and 
troops of the neutral power forget the obligations incident to their neutral 
character; they stimulate the enemy to make war; they furnish them 
with arms and munitions of war to carry it on ; they take an active part in 
their favor; they afford them an asylum on their retreat. The general 
obtaining victory pursues them to this post, the gates of which are shut 
against him; he attacks and carries it, and rests on those acts for his justi- 
fication. The affair is then brought before his government by the power 
whose post has been thus attacked and carried. If the government whose 
officer made the attack had given an order for it, the officer would have no 
merit in it. He exercised no discretion, nor did he act on his own respon- 
sibility. The merit of the service, if there be any in it, would not be his. 
This is the ground on which this occurrence rests, as to his part. I will 
now look to the future. 

" The foreign government demands : — was this your act ? or did you 
authorize it ? I did not : it was the act of the getfenxl. He performed it 
for reasons deemed sufficient himself, and on his own responsibility. I de- 
mand, then, the surrender of the posts, and his punishment. The evidence 
justifying the conduct of the American general, and proving the miscon- 
duct of those officers, will be embodied, to be laid before the sovereign, as 
the ground on which their punishment will be expected. 

" If the Executive refused to evacuate the posts, especially Pensacola, 
it would amount to a declaration of war, to which it is incompetent. It 
would be accused of usurping the authority of Congress, and giving a 
deep and fatal wound to the Constitution. By charging the offense on the 
officers of Spain, we take the ground which you have presented, and we 
look to you to support it. You must aid in procuring the documents ne- 
cessary for this purpose. Those which you sent by Mr. Hambly were pre- 
pared in too much haste, .and do not, I am satisfied, do justice to the cause. 
Tliia must be attended to without delay. 

" Should we hold the posts, it is impossible to calculate all the conse- 
quences hkely to result from it. It is not improbable that war would im- 
mediately follow. Spain would be stimulated to declare it; and, once 



620 LIFE OF ANDREWJACK80N. [1818. 

declared, the adventurers of Britain and other countries would, under the 
Spanish flag, privateer on our commerce. The immense revenue which 
we now receive would be much diminished, as would be the profits of our 
valuable productions. The war would probably soon become general ; and 
we do not foresee that we should have a single power in Europe on our 
side. Why risk these consequences ? The events wliich have occurred in 
both the Floridas show the incompetency of Spain to maintain her author- 
ity; and tlie progress of the revolutions in South America will require all 
her forces there. There is much reason to presume that this act will furnish 
a strong inducement to Spain to cede the territory, provided we do not 
wound too deeply her pride by holding it. If we hold the posts, her govern- 
ment can not treat with honor, which, by withdrawing the troops, we afford 
her an opportunity to do. The manner in which we propose to act will ex- 
culpate you from censure, and promises to obtain all the advantages which 
you contemplated from the measure, and possibly very soon. From a dif- 
ferent course no advantage would be likely to result, and there would be 
great danger of extensive and serious injuries. 

" I shall communicate to you, in the confidence in which I write this 
letter, a copy of the answer which will be given to the Spanish minister, 
that you may see distinctly thte ground on which we rest, in the expectation 
that you will give it all the support in your power. The answer will be 
drawn on a view and with attention to the general interests of our country, 
and its relations with other powers. 

" A charge, no doubt, will be made of a breach of the Constitution, and 
to such a charge the public feeling will be alive. It will be said that you 
have taken all the power into your own hands, not from the Executive alone 
but hkewise from Congress. The distinction which I have made above be- 
tween the act of the government refutes that charge. This act, as to the 
General, will be right if the facts on which he rests made it a measure of 
necessity, and they be well proved. There is no war, or breach of the 
Constitution, unless the government should refuse to give up the posts, in 
which event, should Spain embargo our vessels, and war follow, the charge 
of such breach would be laid against the government with great force. The 
last imputation to Avhich I would consent justly to expose myself is that of 
infringing a Constitution to the support of which, on pure principles, my 
public life has been devoted. In this sentiment, I am satisfied, you fully 
concur. 

" Your letters to the Department were written in haste, under the pres- 
sure of fatigue and infirmity, in a spirit of conscious rectitude, and, in con- 
sequence, with less attention to some parts of their contents than would 
otherwise have been bestowed on them. The passage to which I particu- 
arly allude, from memory, for I have not the letter before me, is that in 
which you speak of the incompetency of an imaginary boundary to protect us 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 521 

against the enemy — the ground on which you bottom all your measureB. 
This is liable to the imputation that you took the S{")Anish posts for that 
reason, as a measure of expediency, and not on account of the misconduct 
of the Spanish officers. The effect of this and such passages, besides other 
objections to them, would be to invalidate the ground on which you stand 
and furnish weapons to adversaries who would be glad to seize them. If you 
think proper to authorize the Secretary or myself to correct those passages, 
it will be done with care, though, should you have copies, as I presume you 
have, you had better do it yourself. 

" The policy of Europe respecting South America is not yet settled. A 
congress of the allied powers is to be held this year (November is spoken 
of) to decide that question. England proposes to restore the colonies to 
Spain with free trade and colonial governments. Russia is less favorable, as 
are all the others. We have a Russian document, written by order of the 
Emperor, as the basis of instructions to his ministers at the several courts, 
speaking of the British proposition favorably, but stating that it must be 
considered and decided on by the allies and the result published to produce 
a moral effect on the colonies, on the failure of which force is spoken of. 
The settlement of the dispute between Spain and Portugal is made a pre- 
liminary. Wc partake in no councils whose object is not their complete in- 
dependence. Intimations have been given ns that Spain is not unwilling, 
and is even preparing for war with the United States, in the hope of making 
it general, and uniting Europe against us and her colonies, on the principle 
that she has no hope of sa^nng them. Her pertinacious refusal-to cede the 
Floridas to us heretofore, though evidently her interest to do it, gives some 
coloring to the suggestions. If we engage in a war, it is of the greatest 
importance that our people be united, and, with that view, that Spain com- 
mence it; and, above all, that the government be free from the charge of 
committing a breach of the Constitution. 

" I hope that you have recovered your health. You see that the state 
of the world is unsettled, and that any future movement is likely to be 
directed against us. There may be very important occasions for your ser- 
vices, which will be relied on. You must have the object in view, and be 
prepared to render them. I am, etc. 

"James Monroe." 



GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

"Nashville, August 19, 1818. 
"Sir : Your letter of the 19th July, apprizing me of the course to be 
pursued in relation to the Floridas, has been received. In a future com- 
munication it is my intention to submit my views of all the questiona 
springing from the subject, with the fullness and candor which the import- 



322 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

ance of the topic, and the part I have acted in it, demand. At present, I 
•will confine myself to the consideration of a part of your letter, which has 
a particular bearing on myself, and which seems to have originated in a 
misconception of the import of the order under which I have commenced 
the Seminole campaign. In making this examination I will make use of 
all the freedom which is courted by your letter, and which I deem neces- 
sary to afford you a clear view of the construction which was given to the 
order, and the motives under which I proceeded to execute its intentions. 

" It is stated in the second paragraph of your letter that I transcended 
(he limits of my order, and that I acted on my own responsibility. 

" To these two points I mean at present to confine myself. But, before 
entering on a proof of their applicability to my acts in Florida, allow me 
fairly to state that the assumption of responsibility will never be shrunk 
from when the public good can thereby be promoted. I have passed through 
difficulties and exposures for the honor and benefit of my country ; and 
whenever still, for this purpose, it shall become necessary to assume a fur- 
ther liability, no scruple will be urged or felt. But when it shall be re- 
quired of me to do so, and the result be danger and injury to that country, 
the inducement will be lost, and my consent will be wanting. 

" This principle is held to be incontrovertible, that an order, generally, 
to perform a certain service, or eflect a certain object, without any specifi- 
cation of the means to be adopted, or limits to govern the executive officer, 
leaves an entire discretion with the officer as to the choice and application 
of means, but preserves the responsibility for his acts on the authority from 
which the order emanated. Under such an order all the acts of the inferior 
are acts of the superior ; and in no way can the subordinate officer be im- 
peached for his measures, except on the score of deficiency in judgment 
and skill. It is also a grammatical truth, that the limits of such an ordef." 
can not be transcended without an entire desertion of the objects it contem- 
plated ; for, so long as the main legitimate design is kept in view, the pol- 
icy of the measures adopted to accomplish it is alone to be considered. If 
these be adopted as the proper rules of construction, and we apply them to 
my order of December 26, 1817, it will be at once seen that, both in de- 
scription and operative principle, they embrace that order exactly. Tho 
requisitions of the order are for the commanding general to assume the 
immediate command at Fort Scott; to concentrate all the contiguous and 
disposable force of the division on that quarter; to call on the Executives 
of adjacent States for an auxiliary militia force ; and concludes with thia 
comprehensive command : 'With this view you may be prepared to con- 
centrate your forces, and adopt the necessary measures to terminate a con- 
flict, which it has ever been the desire of the President, from motives of 
humanity, to avoid, but which is now made necessary by their settled hos- 
tUitv.' 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 523 

" In no part of this document is there a reference to any previous order, 
either to myself or another officer, with a view to point to me the measures 
thought advisable, or the Uniits of my power in choosing and effecting them. 
It states that General Gaines has been ordered to Amelia Island, and then 
proceeds to inform me that ' subsequent orders have been given to Gen- 
eral Gaines, (of which copies will be furnished you,) that you would be 
directed to take the command, and directing him to reassume, should ho 
deem the public interest to require it, the command at Fort Scott, until 
you should arrive there.' Lastly, it mentions that ' he was instructed to 
penetrate the Seminole towns through the Floridas, provided the strength 
of his command at Amelia would justify liis engaging in oflensive opera- 
tions.' The principle determining the weight of references, in subsequent 
orders, to instructions previously given, is well settled. Such references 
are usually made with one of these two intentions — either the order is 
given to a second ofiBcer to effect a certain purpose which was intended to 
be effected by another officer, and the instructions of the first are referred 
t» as the guide of the second ; or the order contains and is designed for an 
extension of authority, and only refers to anterior communications to give 
a full view of what has been previously attempted and performed. In the 
first case it is always necessary to connect the different orders by a specific 
provision, that no doubt may exist as to the extent of the command ; and 
tlius the several requisitions and instructions are amalgamated, and the lim- 
its of the agent plainly and securely established. In the second, no such 
provision is necessary ; for an entire discretion in the choice and use of 
means being previously vested, the reference, if there be any, is only de- 
scriptive of the powers antecedently given, and the results of measures 
attempted under such specifical limitation. But, admitting that, in my or- 
der of December 26, 1817, there is such a reference as I contemplated in 
the first case, allow me to examine its character and amount. It is stated 
that ' orders have been given to General Gaines, (copies of which will be 
furnished you,)' but without affirming that they are to be considered as 
binding ou me, or in any way connected with the comprehensive command 
that I should terminate the Seminole conflict. On the contrary, so far are 
they from being designated as my guide and hmits in entering Florida, 
that, in stating their substance in the ensuing sentence, no allusion what- 
ever is made either to means or limilation. 

" How, then, can it be said with propriety that I have transcended the 
UiniU of my orders, or acted on my own responsibility ? My order was as 
comprehensive as it could be, and contained neither the minute original in- 
structions, nor a reference to others previously given, to guide and govern 
me. The fullest discretion was left with me in the selection and application 
of means to effect the specifical legitimate objects of the campaign ; and for 
the exercise of a sound discretion on principles of policy am I alone respon- 



524 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818 

Bible. But allow me to repeat, that responsibility is not feared by me, if 
the general good requires its assumption. I never have shrunk from it, 
and never will ; but against its imposition on me contrary to principle, and 
without the prospect of any politic result, I must contend with all the feel- 
ings of a soldier and a citizen. Being advised that you are at your country 
seat in Loudoun, where I expect this will reach you, I inclose you a copy 
of the order to me of the 26th December, 1817, and copies of the orders 
of General Gaines therein referred to ; from a perusal of which you will 
perceive that the order to me has no reference to those prohibitory orders 
to General Gaines that you have referred to. 

" It will afford me pleasure to aid the government in procuring any tes- 
timony that may be necessary to prove the hostility of the officers of Spain 
to tlie United States. I had supposed that the evidence furnished had 
established that fact — that the officers of Spain had identified themselves 
with our enemy, and that St, Mark's and Pensacola were under the com- 
plete control of the Indians, although the Governor of Pensacola at least 
had force sufficient to have controlled the Indians, had he chosen to have 
used it in that way. For the purpose of procuring the necessary evidence 
of the hostile acts of the Governor of Pensacola, I dispatched Captain 
Young, topographical engineer, and as soon as obtained it will be furnished 
you. I trust, on a view of all my communications (copies of which have 
been forwarded by Captain Gadsden) you will find that they do not bear 
the construction you have given them. They were written under bad 
health, great fatigue, and in haste. My bad health continues ; I labor un- 
der great bodily debility. 

" Accept assurances of my sincere regard and esteem ; and am, respect- 
fully, " Your most obedient servant, 

"Andrew Jackson. 

"James Monroe, 

" President United States." 

PEESIDENT MONROE TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

" "Washington, October 20, 1818. 

" Dear Sir : I received your letter of the 19th of August while I was 
at home, on my farm in Albemarle ; and there appearing to be no ne- 
cessity for giving it an immediate answer, I delayed it until my return 
here. 

" I was sorry to find that you understood your instructions relative to 
operations in Florida differently from what we intended. I was satisfied, 
however, that you had good reason for your conduct, and have acted in all 
things on tliat principle. By supposing that you understood them as wo 
did, I concluded that you proceeded on your own responsibility alone, in 
which, knowing the purity of your motives, I have done all that I could to 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 525 

justify the measure. I well knew, also, the misconduct of the Spanish 
authorities in that quarter, not of recent date only. 

** Finding tliat you had a different view of your power, it remains only 
to do justice to you on that ground. Nothing can be further from my in- 
tention than to expose you to a responsibility, in any sense, which you did 
not contemplate. 

" The best course to be pursued seems to me to be for you to write a 
letter to the Department, in which you will state that, having reason to 
think that a difference of opinion existed between you and the Executive, 
relative to the extent of your powers, you thought it due to yourself to 
state your view of them, and on which you acted. This will be answered, 
so as to explain ours, in a friendly manner by Mr. Calhoun, who has very 
just and liberal sentiments on the subject. This will be necessary in the 
case of a call for papers by Congress, as may be. Thus we shall all stand 
on the ground of honor, each doing justice to the other, wliich is the ground 
on which we wish to place each otlier, 

" I hope that your health is improved, and Mrs. Monroe unites in her 
best respects to Mrs. Jackson. 

" With great respect and sincere regard, 

" I am, dear sir, yours, 

" James Monroe. 
" Major General Andrew Jackson, 

" Nashville, Tennessee." 

GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

(Extract.) "Nashville, November 15th, 1818. 

" Dear Sir : On my return from the Chickasaw treaty, I found it neces- 
sary to pass by Milton's Bluff, where I had established some hands for the 
culture of cotton, hearing it had been laid out for a town and the lots sold, 
to have as much of my crop preserved as existing circumstances would 
permit. From thence I took Huntsville in my route, and did not reach 
the Hermitage until the 12th instant, and on the 13th received your letter 
of the 12th ultimo ; from an attentive perusal of which, I have concluded 
that you have not yet seen my dispatches from Fort Gadsden, of the 5th 
of May last, which it is reported reached the Department of War by due 
course of mail, and owing to the negligence of the clerks was thrown 
aside as a bundle of revolutionary and pension claims. This I sincerely 
reg^-et, as it would have brought to your view the hght in which I viewed 
my orders. The closing paragraph of this dispatch is in the following 
words : — 

" ' I trust, therefore, that the measures which have been adopted in 
pursuance of your instructions, under a firm conviction that they are cal- 
culated to insure peace and security to tho southern frontier of Georgia.' 



526 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

" The moment, therefore, that you assume the ground that I trauscended 
my power, the letter referred to above will at once unfold to your mind the 
view I had taken of them, and make manifest the difference of opinion that 
exists. Indeed, there are no data at present upon which such a letter as 
you wish written to the Secretary of War can be bottomed. I have no 
ground that a difference of opinion exists between the government and my- 
self, relative to the powers given me in my orders, unless I advert either 
to your private and confidential letters or the public prints, neither of which 
can be made the basis of an official communication to the Secretary of 
War. Had I ever, or were I now to receive an official letter from the 
Secetary of War, explanatory of the light in which it was intended by the 
government that my orders should be viewed, I would with pleasure give 
my understanding of them. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

" Hermitage, near Nashville, ) 
"December 7, 1818. f 

" Dear Sir : I have just received your message to both Houses of Con- 
gress, forwarded by you, and have read it with great attention and satisr 
faction. The Florida question being now fairly before Congress, I hope 
that body will take measures to secure our southern frontier from a repeti- 
tion of massacre and murder. 

" From the report of Colonel King, received and forwarded to the De- 
partment of War, you will discover that the Indians had concentrated their 
forces on the Choctaw Hotchy. which gave rise to the affair between them 
and Captain Boyles, which Colonel King reports. 

" The collection of the Indians is said to have taken place at this point 
on their hearing that Pensacola was to be restored to Spain, and that the 
Indians have declared they will never submit to the United States. If 
this be the fact, and as to myself I have no doubt, as soon as Spain is in 
the possession of Pensacola, we may expect to hear of a renewal of all the 
horrid scenes of massacre on our frontier that existed before the campaign, 
unless Captain Boyles, on his second visit, may be fortunate enough to 
destroy this operation, which, you may rely, springs from foreign excite- 
ment. 

"Colonel Sherburne, Chickasaw agent, requested me to name to you 
that he was wearied with his situation, of which I have no doubt; hia 
age and former habits of life but little calculated him for happiness amidst 
a savage nation. But being dependent for the support of himself and sister 
on the perquisites of his office, he can not resign ; but it would be a great 
accommodation to him to be transferred to Newport, should a vacancy in 
any office occur that he was competent to fill. I have no doubt but he i? 
an amiable old man ; and from his revolutionary services, I sincerely feel 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PE: " ^XED. 527 

for him. He is unacquainted with Indians, and all business -which relates 
ro them ; but at the treaty, as soon as he did understand our wishes and 
that of the government, he aided us with all his might. The colonel never 
can be happy amidst the Indians. It would aftbrd me great pleasure to hear 
that the colonel was comfortably seated in an office in Newport, where he 
could spend his declining years in peace and happiness with his own coun- 
trymen and friends. 

"Accept assurances of my high respect and esteem, and believe me tc 
be, respectfully, your most obedient servant, 

" A. Jackson. 
"James Monroe, 

" President of the United States." 

PRESIDENT MONROE TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

" Washington, December 21, 1818. 

"Dear Sir: I received your letter of November 13 some time past, 
and should have answered it sooner but for the great pressure of business 
on me, proceeding from duties connected with the measures of Congress. 

" The step suggested in mine to you of October 20 will, I am inclined 
to believe, be unnecessary. My sole object in it was to enable you to place 
your view of the authority under which you acted in Florida on the strongest 
ground possible, so as to do complete justice to yourself. I was persuaded 
that you had not done yourself justice in that respecf, in your correspond- 
ence with the Department, and thought that it Avould be better that the 
explanation should commence with you than be invited by the Depart- 
ment. It appeared to me that that Avould be the most delicate course in 
regard to yourself. There is, it is true, nothing in the Department to indi- 
cate a difference of opinion between you and the Executive, respecting the 
import of your instructions, and for that reason, that it would have been 
difficult to have expressed that sentiment without implying by it a censure 
on your conduct, than wliich nothing could be more remote from our dis- 
position or intention. 

" On reviewing your communication by Captain Gradsden, there were 
three subjects preeminently in view : the first, to preserve the Constitution 
from injury ; the second, to deprive Spain and the allied powers of any just 
cause of war ; and the third, to improve the occurrence to the best advan- 
tage of the country, and of the honor of those engaged in it. In every step 
which I have since taken I have pursued those objects with the utmost 
zeal and according to my best judgment. In what concerns you person- 
ally I have omitted nothing in my power to do you justice, nor shall I in 
the sequel. 

" The decision in the three great points above statedj respecting the 
course to be pursued by the administration, was unanimously concurred lu. 



.528 Li/K OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1»18. 

and I have good reason to believe that it has been maintained since, in 
every particular, by all, with perfect integrity. It will be gratifying to you 
to know that a letter of instructions has been drawn by the Secretary 
of State to our minister at Madrid, in reply to a letter of Mr. Pizzaro, 
which has been published, in which all the proceedings in Florida, and in 
regard to it, have been freely reviewed, and placed in a light which will, I 
think, be satisfactory to all. This letter will be reported to Congress in a 
few days, and published of course. I am, etc., 

" James Monroe." 

That these epistles should contain no allusion to the Ehea 
letter is very remarkable. The correspondence was published 
originally by Mr. Calhoun as an appendix to the pamphlet issued 
by him ia 1831, containing the hostile correspondence between 
himself and General Jackson. The letters were furnished for 
that publication by Mr. Monroe himself. Soon after the death 
of Mr. Monroe, in 1831, his son-in-law, Mr. Samuel L. Gou- 
verneur, of New York, to whom the papers of Mr. Monroe were 
bequeathed, published a statement respecting the Ehea letter, 
vaguely denying that Mr. Monroe had ever authorized Mr. 
Ehea to answer General Jackson. " There is no shape," 
wrote Mr. Gouverneur, "in which the fact alluded to has ever 
reached the eye or ear of Mr. Monroe that it has not been 
contradicted. It is as his 7'eprese7itative and upon his au- 
thority that I contradict it." Mr. Gouverneur's letters on 
this subject are voluminous and involved, and it is not clear 
from the context what " the fact alluded to" was. But con- 
ceding that this is an authoritative denial that the Ehea let- 
ter was answered as alleged by General Jackson, we have^ on 
the one hand, the positive assertion of General Jackson, Judge 
Overton and Mr. Ehea, and, on the other, the point blank 
denial of Mr. Monroe. 

Some remarkable lapses of memory are on record. Sir 
Walter Scott dictated the Bride of Lammermoor while he 
was suffering tortures from an acute disease, and when the 
printed novel was placed in his hands he declared that he had 
forgotten every one of its scenes and characters, remembering 
only the outhne of the story, which he had read in childhood. 
It is possible that Mr. Monroe may have spoken to Mr. Ehea 



c 

1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 529 

of General Jackson's letter, and given him some indistinct 
charge respecting it, and then have totally forgotten the 
circumstance. 

In one of the letters given ahove General Jackson alludes 
to his having been commissioned by the President to negotiate 
a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, the object being the ex- 
tinguishment of the Chickasaw title to all lands within the 
States of Kentucky and Tennessee. The aged Governor Shel- 
by, of Kentucky, was associated with General Jackson in this 
commission. The General, as I learn from one of his letters 
to Judge Campbell, returned from Florida exceedingly debili- 
tated, and was confined to his bed for a time. Gentlemen still 
living at Nashville remember well his yellow countenance and 
skeleton-like figure, as he rode into the town at the head of 
the troops. "It was some time," he wrote to Judge Campbell, 
from the treaty ground, October 3d, " before I recovered so as 
to use a pen, and when I did I found myself surrounded by 
letters and communications relative to my ofiicial duties, which 
occupied my whole time that I was able to attend to business 
until the arrival of Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, with whom 
I was joined in commission to hold a treaty with this nation 
for a surrender of their right to all lands within the States of 
Tennessee and Kentucky. We amved here on the 29th ultimo 
and found every thing wrong ; an agent unacquainted w'ith 
Indians, the geography of the country, or even what were the 
wishes of the government, and not one half the nation noti- 
fied of the time and place of meeting. Runners have gone to 
all parts of the nation to collect them. We are waiting their 
arrival, and I am thereby afforded a leisure moment to answer 
your friendly letter." 

The object of the commission was accomplished, but not 
without difficulty ; nor, indeed, without a " difficulty." The 
private journal of the commissioners narrates a curious inter- 
view between the principal chiefs and the representatives of 
the United States, which is a good illustration of the sly sim- 
plicity of the Indian mind : " The commissioners told the 
chief (Levi Colbert) that they would be liberal, as then- father, 
VOL. 11. — 34 



530 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

the Prosident, had told them to be so. Twenty thousand dol- 
lars for twelve years was then proposed by the commissioners, 
which they sternly refused, remarking, they loved money well, 
but they loved their land much better. It was then proposed 
to add one year, which was likewise rejected. General Jack- 
son then observed, that to make all hearts straight, he would 
agree to make the annuity fourteen years, and that he hoped 
the chiefs and the nation would consider that a liberal price 
from their father, the President. Levi Colbert then remarked 
they would consider it, and then adjourned. On meeting 
again, Colbert inquired if one cent would not be given ; and 
being informed that the commissioners had gone to their limit, 
he observed that the American nation is as strong as iron — 
great, rich and strong, and one cent was nothing to it, and 
this would satisfy the nation. General Jackson replied by 
asking if one solitary cent would satisfy the nation, and the 
speaker replied it would, observing that the American nation 
was strong, and the younger brother must, therefore, yield to 
the elder brother ; on which they shook hands with the com- 
missioners and parted. In a conversation shortly after with 
the interpreter, he said they shook hands on fifteen years' 
annuity, which was not the understanding of the commis- 
sioners ; and thus the thing rested, until the time arranged 
for signing the treaty." 

It was in connection with that " one solitary cent" that a 
difference occurred between General Jackson and Governor 
Shelby, which has often been incorrectly related, much to the 
prejudice of the General. Major William B. Lewis, who was 
present at the treaty, and a witness of all that took place, has 
stated the facts : " The Indians insisted that they meant, by 
one cent, another annuity, and that no other construction 
could fairly be put on their meaning. Governor Shelby posi- 
tively refused to give the additional annuity, and the Indians 
as positively refused to cede their lands. General Jackson, 
who until now had taken but little part in the controv(;rsy, 
thought the objects to be acquired by the treaty were of too 
high importance to be lost by the mere pittance of twenty 



1818.] THE ADMINISTRATION PERPLEXED. 53 1 

thousand dollars, to be paid fifteen years from that date, and 
was willing to give them the fifteen annuities. The governor 
still peremptorily refused. The General inquired of him, in 
the presence of the whole company, if they had not, between 
themselves, agreed to go as high as three hundred thousand 
dollars for the country. The governor said they had, but that 
he intended that sum to cover also the expenses of holding 
the treaty. General Jackson replied that was not his under- 
standing ; that he considered the fifteen annuities within the 
limit prescribed to themselves in their private conference, and 
that he was disposed to fill up the blank with that number. 
Governor Shelby still obstinately refused. The General said 
he regretted such was his determination ; but still he would 
execute the treaty himself on the part of the United States, 
and send it to the government, and they could ratify it or not 
as they chose. Upon this Governor Shelby became quite 
violent, ordered his servant to get his horses, and declared he 
would leave the treaty-ground. His horses were accordingly 
brought out and saddled ; and, finding that he was resolved 
on leaving the ground without concluding the treaty, then 
ready for his signature, I determined, if possible, to remove 
every obstacle to its final consummation, and, with a view to 
effect that object, authorized Colonel Butler, the Secretary, 
to speak to Governor Shelby, and say to him that if the addi- 
tional annuity was the only objection to the treaty, I would 
execute to him, or the Executive of the United States, my 
bond for the twenty thousand dollars, with any security that 
might be required, to be paid on condition the government 
should be unwilling to ratify the treaty for more than four- 
teen annuities. Colonel Butler did wait on Governor Shelby 
with my proposition, and received for answer, that the addi- 
tional annuity was the only objection to the treaty, and, after 
a few minutes' reflection, agreed to accept my proposition. 
The bond was accordingly executed, deposited in the hands 
of their secretary, and the treaty signed by both of the com- 
missioners." 

The commissioners rode away from the treaty ground in 



532 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

perfect harmony, Major Lewis informs me ; and, before they 
had gone far. Governor Shelby tore up the bond, and the dif- 
ficulty was at an end. 

General Jackson returned to the Hermitage about the 1st 
of November, intending to pass the winter at home. The 
Florida aifair he supposed to be concluded and done with. 
Congress had yet to meet, however. So far, the Florida ques- 
tion had been considered only by those who had a personal 
interest in sustaining General Jackson. In Congress, there 
were individuals who had an interest in bringing odium upon 
the administration ; and there were others who, for reasons 
patriotic and humane, would not be disposed to sanction 
Jackson's extreme measures. There was a member of the 
cabinet, perhaps there were two members of the cabinet, who 
would not object to lessen the popularity and lower the stand- 
ins: of General Jackson, if it could be done without their 
hands being seen in the business ; for General Jackson was 
already looming dimly up as a possible candidate for the pres- 
idency. He was, at least, a personage whose opposition to a 
candidate for the presidency was not desirable. 



CHAPTER XL. 

VERDICT OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

One evening, near the beginning of the first month of the 
year 1819, General Jackson, on his way from Nashville to the 
Hermitage, rode up to the gate of his friend, Major William 
B. Lewis, and, giving his horse to a servant, entered the snug 
library of that gentleman. The two friends had met earlier 
in the day ; when Major Lewis, in the absence of a more im- 
portant topic, had shown the General a new overcoat just from 
the tailor's, and expatiated upon its various merits. The Gen- 
eral had tried on the garment and pronounced it good. Upon 
entering the Hbrary in the evening he observed the overcoat 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 533 

hanging over tlie back of a chair, and taking it upon his arm, 
he astonished his friend by saying, 

" Major, there's a combination in Congress to ruin me. I 
start for Washington to-morrow morning. My overcoat is 
rusty ; I want you to get another made for yourself and charge 
it to me, and let me take this one with me." 

Major Lewis assenting to this proposition, the General 
briefly explained the contents of certain letters and papers he 
had just received from Washington, and then, mounting his 
horse, galloped off toward home. The next morning, before 
the dawn of day, he was on the road again for a journey then 
seldom performed, during the winter, in less than thirty days. 
General Jackson, never a slow traveler, did not linger much 
on this journey. At one town in Virginia he stopped a few 
hours, and partook of an extemporized supper ; at which he 
gave the old sentiment, so oft repeated in Waxhaw church- 
yard : " John C. Calhoun — an honest man is the noblest work 
of God." Twelve years later, the General wrote in his Ex- 
position : " Who can paint the workings of the guilty Cal- 
houn's soul when he read that toast .?"* 

Early in the new year (January 27th) General Jackson 
was in Washington, eagerly watching and powerfully control- 
ling the course of events. All invitations to public or private 
entertainments he declined until Congress should have pro- 
nounced its verdict. He was closeted often with the Presi- 
dent, the Secretary of War, and his congressional friends, 
exhil3iting documents, making personal explanations, and 
occasionally denouncing the course of the opposition in terms 
more Jacksonian than courteous. 

On the 12th of January the great debate in the House 
of Representatives on the conduct of General Jackson in the 
Seminole war began. "The galleries," says the National 
Intelligencer, "crowded to suffocation," The debate lasted 
twenty-seven days, to the exclusion of every other topic. It 
was one of the ablest and one of the most animated discus- 
sions that ever took place in that body. The effects upon the 

* Benton's Thirty Years, I, 177. 



534 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

fortunes of some of the debaters of the words then spoken were 

decisive and irreversible. 

The Committee on Military AiFairs, to whom was re- 
ferred so much of the President's message as related to the 
Seminole war, reported a resolution ; one member of the com- 
mitter alone dissenting, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Ken- 
tucky. This resolution, which was referred to a Committee 
of the Whole House, read as follows : 

^^ Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 
United States disapproves the proceedings in the trial and 
execution of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Am- 
brister." 

To this, Mr. Cobb, of Georgia (warm friend and chief po- 
litical ally of Mr. Crawford), added three other resolutions, 
which were debated with the one just given, and form one 
series in connection with it : 

" Besolved, That the Committee on Military AiFairs be 
instructed to prepare and report a bill to this House prohib- 
iting, in time of peace, or in time of war with any Indian 
tribe or tribes only, the execution of any captive taken by 
the army of the United States without the approbation of 
such execution by the President. 

" Besolved, That the late seizure of the Spanish posts of 
Pensacola and St. Carlos de Barrancas in West Florida by 
the army of the United States was contrary to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

^'Besolved, That the same committee be instructed to 
prepare and report a bill prohibiting the march of the army 
of the United States, or any corps thereof, into any foreign 
territory, without the previous authorization of Congress, 
except it be in the case of fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy 
of the United States taking refuge within such foreign ter- 
ritory." 

The debate on these resolutions, which fills more than one 
hundred pages of the sixth volume of Mr. Benton's Abridg- 
ment, is accessible to the public. We can but glance at the 
two or three speeches which tower above all the rest in ability 



.1^ 

1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 535 

and celebrity, particularly those of Mr. Clay, the Speaker of 
the House, and of Mr. George Poindcxter, of Mississippi. 
The discussion of the resolutions in Committee of the Whole 
gave the Speaker, Mr. Clay, an opportunity to take part in 
the debate. 

Henry Clay, a leader then of the Republican or Demo- 
cratic party, had advocated the election of Mr. Monroe to the 
presidency, but had not given a cordial support to his admin- 
istration. " His friends," says Dr. Quincy, the biographer of 
John Quincy Adams, " did not conceal their disappointment 
that he was not invited to take the office of Secretary of 
State, nor did he disguise his dissatisfaction at tlie appoint- 
ment of Mr. Adams." His opposition, therefore, to the meas- 
ures of Mr. Monroe was attributed to this dissatisfaction. It 
was certainly not without reason that Mr. Clay had looked 
for a recognition of the signal services he had rendered his 
party during the war with Great Britain ; of which the elec- 
tion of Mr. Monroe was a result. He could have been gen- 
eralissimo of the forces of the United States in that contest, 
if he would. But declining that perilous honor, he had cham- 
pioned the war in Congress, declaimed at the head of depart- 
ing regiments, and taken a conspicuous, and perhaps a con- 
trolling, part in the negotiations that terminated in the treaty 
of Ghent. An appointment by Mr. Monroe to the post of 
Secretary of State would have placed him on the short-cut to 
the presidency. The preference accorded to Mr. Adams, a 
gentleman with whom the ardent, the Kentuckian Clay had 
as little in common as with any public man of the time, could 
not have been very agreeable to him. 

It is usual to attribute the conduct of public men to 
private motives, and to do so is esteemed by some an evidence 
of knowingness. Doubtless, public men have their resent- 
ments and their ambitions, which do influence their public 
conduct. The personal motive sometimes, doubtless, swal- 
lows up the patriotic one, and the man who began his career 
in a high and disinterested spirit ends it miserably and shame- 
fully as a self-seeker. And this is particularly apt to be the 



536 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818 

case in a government the topmost honor of which is left open, 
every four years, to the competition of all. The temptation 
was sometimes too much for human nature. Human nature 
was not designed to bear a strain so disproportioned to its 
strength, and man was endowed with reason and ingenuity 
enough to contrive a system of government which will not 
hold forth to those who administer it a lure so resistless as 
the ])residency was. Nevertheless, a close study of the lives 
and writings of the men who have held and retained a high 
place in the confidence and esteem of the people of the United 
States induces the belief that, as a general rule, their public 
course has been insjjired and sustained by public motives. 
When Henry Clay said that he would rather be right than 
President, he uttered what, I believe, was true of his own 
heart, and of the hearts of most of his eminent contempora- 
ries. And yet he may have keenly desired the Presidency, 
and that weak ambition may have suggested some of his pub- 
lic acts and influenced others. 

Mr. Clay began his speech on the Seminole war by assert- 
ing the purity of his motives. " All inferences," said he, 
" drawn from the course which it will be my j^ainful duty to 
take in this discussion, of unfriendliness either to the Chief 
Magistrate of the country, or to the illustrious military chief- 
tain whose operations are under investigation, will be wholly 
unfounded. Toward that distinguished captain, who has shed 
so much glory on our country, whose renown constitutes so 
gi-eat a portion of its moral property, I have never had, I 
never can have, any feelings than those of the most profound 
respect and of the utmost kindness. With him my acquaint- 
ance is very limited ; but, so far as it has extended, it has 
been of the most amicable kind. I know the motives which 
have been, and which will again be, attributed to me, in re- 
gard to the other exalted personage alluded to. They have 
been and will be unfounded. I have no interest other than 
that of seeing the concerns of my country well and happily 
administered. It is infinitely more gratifying to behold the 
prosperity of my country advancing by the wisdom of thp 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 537 

measures adopted to promote it, than it would be to expose 
the errors which may be committed, if there be any, in the 
conduct of its aifairs. Little as has been my experience in 
public life, it has been sufficient to teach me that the most 
humble station is surrounded by difficulties and embarrass- 
ments Eather than throw obstructions in the way of the 
President, I would precede him, and pick out those, if I could, 
which might jostle him in his progress ; I would sympathize 
with him in his embarrassments, and commiserate with him 
in his misfortunes. It is true it has been my mortification to 
differ from that gentleman on several occasions. I may be 
again reluctantly compelled to differ from him ; but I will, 
with the utmost sincerity, assure the committee that I have 
formed no resolution, come under no engagements, and that 
I never will form any resolution, or contract any engagements, 
for systematic opposition to his administration, or to that of 
any other Chief Magistrate." 

The orator proceeded next to comment, and to comment 
most erroneously, upon the treaty of Fort Jackson, to the 
harsh exactions of which he traced the discontent of the Semi- 
noles. Here he displayed an extraordinary ignorance. • The 
demand which General Jackson had made of the surrender ot 
the " prophets" Mr. Clay construed to be an attack upon the 
religion of the Indians. " When," he exclaimed, " did all- 
conquering and desolating Rome ever fail to respect the altars 
and the gods of those wdiom she subjugated ? Let me not be 
told that these prophets were impostors, who deceived the 
Indians. They were their prophets ; the Indians believed and 
venerated them, and it is not for us to dictate a religious be- 
lief to them. It does not belong to the holy character of the 
religion which we profess to carry its precepts by the force of 
the bayonet into the bosoms of other people. Mild and gentle 
persuasion was the great instrument employed by the meek 
founder of our religion. We leave to the humame and bene- 
volent efforts of the reverend professors of Christianity to con- 
vert from barbarism those imhappy nations yet immersed in 
itB~gloom. But, sir, spare them their prophets ! spare theii 



538 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819 

delusions ! spare their prejudices and superstitions ! spare 
them even their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel 
violence." 

If this was not ignorance it was clap-trap. It goes far to 
excuse the wrath which this speech kindled in the bosom of 
an " illustrious military chieftain." The other comments of 
Mr, Clay upon the treaty of Fort Jackson show that he had 
not prepared himself to speak on that branch of his subject. 
Indeed, he admitted that he had never seen the treaty until 
" within a few days past." 

The rest of the speech was more in accordance with fact. 
The attack upon Fowltown was justly characterized as " the 
fatal blow" which had brought on the war. The summary exe- 
cution of the two Indian chiefs was contrasted with the conduct 
of General William Henry Harrison (then a member of the 
House), who had invariably spared Indian warriors captured 
or overpowered. One of General Harrison's impassioned or- 
ders to this effect was read by Mr. Clay. General Jackson 
did not forget the odious comparison ! 

The truth with regard to Arbuthnot was hit by the ora- 
tor to a nicety. " It is possible," said Mr. Clay, " that a 
critical examination of the evidence would show, particularly 
in the case of Arbuthnot, that the whole amount of his crime 
consisted in his trading, without the limits of the United 
States, with the Seminole Indians, in the accustomed com- 
modities which form the subject of Indian trade ; and that he 
sought to ingratiate himself with his customers by espousing 
their interests in regard to the provisions of the treaty of 
Ghent, which he may have honestly believed entitled them to 
the restoration of their lands." Exactly so. A critical ex- 
amination of the evidence has shown it. It is a pity that Mr. 
Clay did not himself make such an examination, and thus 
establish the truth, which he merely threw out as a plausible 
conjecture. It was his duty to do just that. 

Mr. Clay argued that even upon the concession that these 
men were guilty of instigating the Indians to appeal to arms 
their execution was utterly unjustifiable. William Pitt in- 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 539 

Btigated all Europe to wage war upon the French emperor ; 
but if William Pitt had fallen into the hands of the French, 
would Napoleon have put him to death ? Napoleon had 
united all Europe in arms against England, but even the han- 
ishment of the lallen emperor to St. Helena was a blot on the 
English name which history could never efface. And it was 
universally conceded, added Mr. Clay, that the execution of 
the Due d' Enghien was an act that sullied the luster of Napo- 
leon's career. " No man," said the speaker, " can be executed 
in this free country without two things being shown : 1, That 
the LAW condemns him to death. 2. That his death is pro- 
nounced by that tribunal which is authorized by the law to 
try him. These principles would reach every man's case, na- 
tive or foreign, citizen or alien. The instant quarters are 
granted to a prisoner, the majesty of the law surrounds and 
sustains him, and he can not lawfully be punished with death 
without the concurrence of the two circumstances just insisted 
upon. I deny that any commander-in-chief in this country 
has this absolute power of life and death at his sole discretion. 
It is contrary to the genius of all our laws and institutions." 
In concluding his speech Mr. Clay declaimed upon the 
instances, in ancient and modern story, of the overthrow of 
liberty by " military chieftains." 

" Eecall to your recollection the free nations which have gone before 
us. Where are they now ? 

' Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour.' 

And how have they lost their liberties ? If we could transport ourselves 
back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished in their greatest pros- 
perity, and, mingling in the throng, should ask a Grecian if he did not fear 
that some daring mihtary chieftain, covered with glory, some Philip or 
Alexander, would one day overthrow the liberties of his country, the con- 
fident and indignant Grecian would exclaim, 'No! no! we have nothing 
to fear from our heroes ; our liberties will be eternal.' If a Roman citizen 
had been asked if he did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might estab- 
lish a throne upon the ruins of pubho liberty, he would have instantly re- 
pelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece fell ; Caesar passed the Rubicon, 
and the patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of hi3 



540 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819 

devoted country ! The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and per- 
haps her best work, has said, that in the very year, almost the very month, 
when the president of the directory declared that monarchy would never 
more show its frightful head in France, Bonaparte, with his grenadiers, 
entered the palace of St. Cloud, and dispersing with the bayonet the depu- 
ties of the people, deliberating on the affairs of the State, laid the founda- 
tion of that vast fabric of despotism which overshadowed all Europe. I 
hope not to be misunderstood. I am far from intimating that Greneral 
Jackson cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties of the couniry. I 
believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. I thank God that he would 
not, but I thank him still more that he could not if he would, overturn the 
liberties of the republic. But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most 
dangerous consequences. Man has been described by some of those who 
who have treated of his nature as a bundle of habits. The definition i3 
much truer when applied to governments. Precedents are their habits. 
There is one important difference between the formation of habits by an 
individual and by governments. He contracts it only after frequent repe- 
tition. A single instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of 
governments. Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited discretion in our 
military commanders, when applied even to prisoners of war, I must enter 
my protest. It begins upon them ; it will end on us. I hope our happy 
form of government is to be perpetual. But if it is to be preserved, it must 
be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, 
by greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the Execu- 
tive; and, above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military 
branch of the public force. 

" We are fighting a great moral battle for the benefit^ not only of our 
countiy, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in fixed 
attention upon us. One, and the largest portion of it, is gazing with con- 
tempt, with jealousy, and with envy; the other portion with hope, with 
confidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black cloud of legitimacy 
is suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which breaks out 
fi-om the political hemisphere of the West, to enlighten, and animate, and 
gladden the human heart. Obscure that by the downfall of liberty here, 
and all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness. To you, 
Mr. Chairman, belongs the high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to 
posterity the fair character and liberty of our country. Do you expect to 
execute this high trust by trampHng, or suffering to be trampled down, 
law, justice, the Constitution, and the rights of the people ? by exhibiting 
examples of inhumanity, and cruelty, and ambition ? When the minions 
of despotism heard in Europe of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they 
chuckle and chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to 
the demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made by out 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 541 

country, in the midst of an amicable negotiation. Behold, said they, the 
conduct of those who are constantly reproaching kings. You saw how 
those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw, too, 
when that illustrious man who presides over us adopted his pacific, mod- 
erate, and just course, how they once more Ufted up their heads with exul- 
tation and delight beaming in their countenances. And you saw how 
those minions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the genera! 
praises bestowed upon our government. Beware how you forfeit this ex- 
alted character. Beware how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant period 
of our republic, scarcely yet two-score years old, to military insubordina- 
tion. Remember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Caesar, Eng- 
land her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and that, if we would escape 
the rock on which they split, we must avoid their errors. 

******** 

"I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isthmus on which 
we stand. They may bear down all opposition ; they may even vote the 
General the public thanks ; they may carry him triumphantly through thia 
House. But, if they do, in my humble judgment, it will be a triumph of 
the principle of insubordination, a triumph of the military over the civil 
authority, a triumph over the powers of this House, a triumph over the 
Constitution of the land. And I pray most devoutly to Heaven that it 
may not prove, in its ultimate effects and consequences, a triumph over 
the liberties of the people." 

Such was the speech of Henry Clay upon General Jack- 
son's conduct in the Seminole war. A day or two after its 
delivery, Mr, Clay, to show that his animadversions upon 
General Jackson's public conduct did not proceed from per- 
sonal hostility, called upon the General at his hotel. General 
Jackson was absent from home at the time. The call was 
not returned. The Speaker was not left long in doubt as to 
the feelings of General Jackson toward him, as we shall see in 
due time. 

The rage and disgust of the General when he read the 
speech were extreme. The long feud between General Jack- 
son and Mr. Clay dates from the delivery of that speech, 
Jackson never hated any man so bitterly nor so long as he 
hated Henry Clay. He took an exclusively personal view of 
the difference between them on this question, and on all ques- 
tions ; regarding the opposition of Mr. Clay in the light of 



542 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

hostility only. That Mr. Clay or any other man could, for 
conscientious and patriotic reasons purely, differ in opinion 
from Andrew Jackson on a subject in which his feelings or his 
pride Avas seriously interested, was a truth which Andrew 
Jackson had not been gifted by nature with the power of 
believing. Nor is the ability to believe a truth of that kind 
as common as it is supposed to be. 

We must be just to this fiery chieftain, who loved his 
country well, and really would have laid down his bristling 
white head upon the block to save or serve it. Reader, " set 
the case :" You go to the wars, authorized to conduct an 
expedition in the manner you deem best. You conduct it so. 
Every man that has access to your ear tells you that you have 
done gloriously, and your own conscience tells you that every 
act of yours was dictated by a supreme regard for the public 
good. You return, after numberless fatigues and privations, 
to your home, a living skeleton, and rise from long sickness 
only to undertake new labors and laborious journeys for the 
promotion of public objects. Would you listen with patience 
or with impatience, with calmness or with fury, to criticism 
of your conduct by men who had sat at home at ease, and dis- 
played an undeniable ignorance of some of the most material 
facts upon which your conduct was based ? Would you 
dwell complacently upon those passages which were incontro- 
vertible and placed you in the wrong, and pass lightly over 
those which exhibited the critic's own incompetence "? Would 
you judge charitably the motives of a man who held up to 
public execration that precise act of your career which alone 
made the glorious part of it possible, and which you knew was 
the source of great advantages to your country ? If you 
would, you are a person endowed by heaven with its best 
gift, a magnanimous soul, and you are the last man in the 
world to judge harshly this brave, narrow, keen, honest, un- 
cultured, fiery, flattered Jackson. 

The precise effect produced upon the mind of General 
Jackson by the speech of Mr. Clay may be gathered from 



1818] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. .043 

the following letter written by the General ten days after 
the delivery of the speech : — 

GEN. JACKSON TO MAJ. WM. B. LEWIS. 

"City of Washington, January 30, 1819. 

" Dear Sir : Inclosed you will find a piece addressed to tho honorable 
Mr. Clay, which I wish you to have republished. You will see him skinned 
here, and I hope you will roast him in the West. I have inclosed his speech 
to Colonel S. D. Hays. I wish you to see and read it, and if Mr. Casidy* 
can be got sober I wish him to scorch him for his attack upon the treaty 
of Fort Jackson. 

" I find Mr. Calhoun is sore from the remarks made by B. B. in the 
Aurora ;t he has professed to be my friend, approves my conduct and that 
of the President. Mr. Monroe has told the members, if an opportunity 
oflfers, to declare on tlft floor of Congress, in addition to what Mr. Adams 
has said, that he fully, and warmly approves every act of mine, from first to 
last, of the Seminole campaign. Mr. Loundes has made his speech to-day, 
and has vented all his spleen against me and exonerated the President.| 
Judge Nelson followed him, and has given him the gaff, until it is believed 
he is sorry for his deception and versatility. It is said by all who heard 
Loundes that his speech has been the weakest thing that has appeared. 
Judge Nelson will conclude his speech on Monday ; will be followed by 
two gentlemen from Pennsylvania, Baldwin and Seargent, on the same side, 
who, I am told, will be able and severe. Poindexter and Claiborne will 
conclude, both with severity. General Smyth, Virginia, and L. Talmadge, 
from New York, have, it is said, made two of the most lucid speeches ever 
heard on the floor, and Barbour, Virginia, one of the most logical. I will, 
as they appear, forward them. I have never been at the House, and I have 
decUned all that hospitality offered by the Mayor and the city and Heads 
of Departments until the question is ended. There will be a vast majority, 
I am told, in my favor, and I have seen a letter, from Mr. Jefierson fully 

* Editor of a NashvOle paper. 

f Note by Major Lewis: "The articles signed B. B., referred to in this letter 
us having been published in the Philadelphia Aurora, were written by the un- 
dersigned, which were made known confidentially to the General before he left 
home for Washington city. W. B. L." 

I No evidence of " spleen" appears in the printed copy of Mr. Loundes' speech. 
It is, on the contrary, remarkably moderate. He justified the execution of Am- 
bristor, and 'out mildly condemned that of Arbuthnot. There is no word of dis- 
respect to General Jackson in the speech as reported. See Benton's Abridgment, 
fol, tI, p 208. Mr. Loundes was one of the most gentle and amiable of men. 



544 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

approving all my conduct, and that of the President, and bestowing one of 
the handsomest compliments on Mr. Adams' letter ever penned. It is 
stated that Mr. Loundes is allied to Mr. Crawford. Mr. Clay does not deny 
that there is a combination, but says that there is no systematic combination. 
He does not deny that Crawford wrote him on the subject, and you may 
occasionally probe him and Mr. Crawford on this point. I inclose a letter 
for Mrs. Jackson ; please send it to her. I am, yours, respectfully, 

" Andrew Jackson. 
" Major Wm. B. Lewis. 

" P. S. If you know B. B., tell him to exonerate Mr. Calhoun from a 
coalition with Mr. Crawford. 

" Present me to the ladies affectionately. I would be glad to hear from 
you. The combination formed was more extensive than I calculated on, 
but Mr. Clay's anxiety to crush the Executive through me has defeated 
them, and it is recoiling on the heads of the coalition. I was induced to 
believe from Colonel Hayne and others here that Loundes would defend 
me, but his engagements to Crawford, it is supposed, and the influence of 
Clay, has pushed him to his political ruin ; for this is become a great party 
question, and it will end in it, and must become the touchstone of the elec- 
tion of the next President, and the hypocrisy and baseness of Clay iu 
pretending friendship to me, and endeavoring to crush the Executive 
through me, makes me despise the villain. The whole Kentucky dele- 
gation, except Clay, I am told, goes with me, and Clay is politically 
damned, and I have exposed the correspondence with G-eneral Scott, and 
he is double damned. It is fortunate I have come on ; had I not, things 
would not have been as they are. A. J. 

" Let Mrs. J. have a perusal of the inclosed as soon as they are re- 
printed in the Whig and Clarion, for I wish both these papers to take up 
the subject warmly. A. J." 

Colonel Richard M. Johnson replied to Mr. Clay, and re- 
futed some of the weak points of his speech very happily. 
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, he said, were not instigators 
of lawful war, as Pitt and Bonaparte were. Having no au- 
thority from any government, they were not protected either 
by the common law or by the law of- nations. They were 
outlaws, and completely at the mercy of their captor ; as 
much so as pirates taken in arms on the high seas, and for 
the same reasons. They were pirates, said he, i. e. private 



1819.] VERDI «:t of the house. 545 

persons making war on their own authority, and for their own 
advantage. 

Mr. Poindexter spoke on the 2d of February, near the 
close of this long debate. Unlike Mr. Clay, he had prepared 
himself to speak on the question by " critically examinino^' 
the papers and documents relating to it. From the mass of 
documents he selected every paragraph and item which could 
be made to tell in justification of Jackson's conduct, and 
added to these an occasional round assertion. The depositions 
of Hambly and Doyle were read by the orator at length ; but 
he did not pause to comment on the fact stated by these gen- 
tlemen, that the party of savages who carried them into cap- 
tivity was commanded by the Fowltown chief The fatal 
memorandum on the back of Arbuthnot's letter was duly pa- 
raded and described by Mr. Poindexter as a " request," on 
the part of Arbuthnot, for arms and ammunition. 

One point made by this ingenious speaker has a particular 
interest in view of later events. He dwelt much on the fact 
that all the speakers who condemned the course of General 
Jackson had acquitted him of intentional misconduct. He* 
had done wrong, they maintained, but only through an error 
of judgment. He had merely misinterpreted the laws and 
Constitution of his country. " Well," urged the orator, " what 
gentleman present can say that he has on all occasions con- 
strued the Constitution correctly 9^ A few short years past, 
these honorable gentlemen were the champions who resisted 
the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States. 
At that day they held the original act of incorporation to be 
a usurpation of power not delegated to Congress by the Con- 
stitution, and to their exertions we were indebted for the 
downfall of that institution. The same distinguished mem- 
bers, at a subsequent period, acting under the high obliga- 
tions of duty and the solemnity of their oaths to support the 
Constitution of the United States, aided and assisted in estab- 
lishing the Mammoth Ba.nk, which now threatens to sweep 
with the besom of destruction every other moneyed institu- 
tion in the nation into the gulf of r^iin and bankruptcy \" 
VOL. II. — 35 



546 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

Mr Poindexter would not censure these honorable gentle- 
men. "The flexible character of man," he observed, "and 
the frailty of human nature afford an ample apology for these 
oscillations." 

Following the example of Mr. Clay, the gentleman from 
Mississippi concluded his three hours' speech with a burst of 
declamation. He had been descanting upon Mr. Clay's po- 
sition that the two maxims of common law quoted by him 
had application to such cases as those of the prisoners exe- 
cuted in Florida. 

" The gentleman's common law," he continued, " will not do for the 
freemen of the United States ; it is unique and absurd. Sir, if the com- 
mittee will pardon the digression, this novel idea of common law reminds 
me of an occurrence wliich is said to have happened in the early period of 
the settlement of the present polite and flourishing State of Kentucky. A 
man in personal combat deprived his antagonist of the sight of an eye by a 
practice familiar at that day called gouging ; the offender was prosecuted 
and indicted for the outrage, he employed counsel to defend him, to whom 
he confessed the fact. Well, sir, said the lawyer, what shall I say in your 
defense? Why, sir, said he, tell them it is the custom of the country! 
•And I presume if the honorable speaker had presided on the trial he would 
have said, ' Gentlemen of the jury, it is the common law of Kentucky, and 
you will find a verdict for the defendant.' 

" But, sir, to be serious, let me bring the case home to the honorable 
speaker himself. Suppose a band of these barbarians, stimulated and ex- 
. cited by some British incendiary, should at the hour of midnight, when all 
nature is wrapt in darkness and repose, sound the infernal yell, and enter 
the dwelling of that honorable gentleman, and in his presence pierce to the 
heart the wife of his bosom and the beloved and tgnder infant in her arms 
— objects so dear to a husband and father — would he calmly fold his arms 
and say, well, 'tis hard I but it is the common law of the country, and I 
must submit I No, sir ; liis manly spirit would burn with indignant rage, 
and never slumber till the hand of retributive justice had avenged hia 
wrongs. 

" ' Mercy to him who shows it is the rule 

And righteous limitations of the act 

By which Heaven moves in pardoning guilty man; 

And he that shows none, being ripe in years 

And conscious of tlie outrage he commits. 

Shall seek it, and not And it, in his turn.' 

" I have no compassion for such monsters as Arbuthnot and Ambrister ■; 
their own country is ashamed to complain of their fate ; the British minis- 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 547 

ter here has disavowed their conduct and abandoned their cause ; and we, 
sir, are tlie resi(hiary legatees of all the grief and soitow felt on the face of 
the globe for these two fallen murderers and robbers 1 For I call him a 
murderer who incites to murder. 

"Mr. Chairman, I am not the eulogist of any man; I shall not attempt 
the panegyric of General Jackson ; but if a grateful country might be 
allowed to speak of his merits, Louisiana would say : ' You have defended 
our capital against the veteran troops of the enemy, by whom it would 
have been sacked, and our dwellings enveloped in flames over the heads 
of our beloved families.' 

" Georgia : ' You have given peace to our defenseless frontier, and chas- 
tised our ferocious savage foe, and the perfidious incendiaries and felons by 
whom they were excited and counseled to the perpetration of their cruel 
deeds. You have opened additional territory to our rich and growing 
population, which they may now enjoy in peace and tranquillity.' 

" Alabama and Mississippi : ' You have protected us in the time of our 
infancy, and in the moment of great national peril, against the inexorable 
Red Sticks and their allies ; you have compelled them to relinquish the 
possession of our lands, and ere long we shall strengthen into full manhood 
under the smiles of a beneficent Providence.' 

" 2%e whole Western country : 'You have preserved the great empo- 
rium of our vast commerce from the grasp of a powerful enemy ; you have 
maintained for our use the free navigation of the Mississippi at the hazard 
of your life, health, ai>d fortune.' 

" The Nation at large : ' You have given glory and renown to the arms 
of your country throughout the civilized world, and have taught the tyrants 
of the earth the salutary lesson that, in the defense of their soil and inde- 
pendence, freemen are invincible.' 

"History will transmit these truths to generations yet unborn, and 
should the propositions on your table be adopted, we, the Representatives 
of the people, subjoin : ' Yes, most noble and valorous captain, you have 
achieved all this for your country ; we bow down under the weight of the 
obhgations which we owe you, and as some small testimonial of your claim 
to the confidence and consideration of your fellow-citizens, we, in then- 
name, present you the following resolutions : 

^^^ Resolved, That you, Ma,ior General Andrew Jackson, have violated 
the Constitution which you have sworn to support, and disobeyed the 
orders of your superior, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
of the United States. 

" * Resolved, That you. Major General Andrew Jackson, have violated 
the laws of your country and the sacred principles of humanity, and thereby 
prostrated the national character, in the trial and execution of Alexander 
Jtrbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister, for the trifling and unimportant cnmo 



548 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

of excitinw the savages to murder the defenseless inhabitants of the United 
States. 

" ' Accept, we pray you, sir, of these resolves ; go down to your grave 
fti sorrow, and congratulate yourself that you have not served this great 
republic in vain 1' 

" Greece had her Miltiades, Eome her Belisarius, Carthage her Hanni^ 
bal and ' may we, Mr. Chairman, profit by the example !' Sir, if honorable 
gentlemen are so extremely solicitous to record their opinion of this dis- 
tino-uished Greneral, let us erect a tablet in the center of our Capitol square ; 
let his bust designate the purpose; thither let each man repair and engrave 
the feelings of his heart. And, sir, whatever may be the opinions of others, 
for one I should not hesitate to say, in the language of the sage of Monti- 
cello ' Honor and gratitude to him who has filled the measure of his country's 
glory !' " 

This speech produced a prodigious sensation in Washing- 
ton, and was read eagerly by the people everywhere. It was 
the ablest speech of the debate incomparably, and after its 
delivery the public interest in the subject flagged. The editor 
of the Philadelphia Courier gave utterance to the general 
feeling when he said that he wished Mr. Speaker Clay had 
authority to bar the doors and windows of the House, and 
keep the members without water, food or sleep till they had 
decided the Seminole question. 

The debate continued for another week, however. One 
of the speakers who condemned the course of Greneral Jack- 
son was General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio. The op- 
position of this gentleman, though it was expressed in the' 
mildest atod most courteous terms, excited in the mind of 
Jackson a peculiar and lasting animosity, which, a few years 
later, he had an opportunity to gratify in a striking manner. 
That the reader may be enabled to judge correctly of the sub- 
sequent retaliation, it is necessary for him to know the exact 
nature of the provocation. The following is the material 
passage of General Harrison's speech on the occasion : 

" If the Father of his Country were alive, and in the administration of 
the government, and had authorized the taking of the Spanish posts, I 
would declare ray disapprobation of it as readily as I do now. Nay, more, 
because the more distinguished the individual, the more salutary the ex- 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 549 

ample. No one can tell how soon such an example would be beneficiaL 
General Jackson will be faithful to his country ; but I recollect that the vir- 
tues and patriotism of Fabius and Scinio were soon followed by the crimes 
of Marius and the usurpation of Sylla. I am sure, sir, that it is not the in- 
tention of any gentleman upon this floor to rob General Jackson of a single 
ray of glory, much less to wound his feelings or injure his reputation. And 
while I thank my friend from Mississippi (Mr. Poindexter) in the name of 
those who agree with me that General Jackson has done wrong, I must 
be permitted to decline the use of the address which he has so obligingly 
prepared for us, and substitute the following as more consonant to our 
views and opinions. If the resolutions pass, I would address him thus : 

" ' In the performance of a sacred duty, imposed by their construction 
of the Constitution, the representatives of the people have found it neces- 
sary to disapprove a single act of your brilliant career ; they have done it 
in the full conviction that the hero who has guarded her rights in the field 
will bow with reverence to the civil institutions of his country — that he 
has admitted as his creed that the character of the soldier can never be 
complete without eternal reference to the character of the citizen. Your 
country has done for you all that a republic can do for the most favored of 
her sons. The age of deification is past ; it was an age of tyranny and bar- 
barism ; the adoration of man should be addressed to his Creator alone. 
You have been feasted in the Pritanes of the cities. Your statue shall be 
placed in the Capitol, and your name be found in the songs of the virgins. 
Go, gallant chief, and bear with you the gratitude of your country. Go, 
under the full conviction that, as her glory is identified with yours, she has 
nothing more dear to her but her laws — nothing more sacred but her Con- 
stitution, Even an unintentional error shall be sanctified to her service. 
It will teach posterity that the government which could disapprove the 
conduct of a Marcellus will have the fortitude to crush the vices of a 
Marius.' 

" These sentiments, sir, lead to results in which all must unite. Gen- 
eral Jackson will still live in the hearts of his fellow-citizens, and the Con- 
stitution of your country wiU be immortal." 

On the 8th of February the vote of the Committee of the 
Whole was taken upon each of the four resolutions under 
discussion. 

Does the committee disapprove the execution of Arbuth- 
not and Ambrister ? It does not. Ayes, 54 ; noes, 90. 

Shall a law be drafted prohibiting the execution of cap- 
tives by a commanding general ? There shall not. Ayes, 
57 ; noes, 98. 



550 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819t. 

Was the seizure of Pensacola and the capture of Barran- 
cas contrary to the Constitution ? It was not. Ayes, 65 ; 
noes, 91. 

Shall a law be drafted forbidding the invasion of foreign 
territory without the previous authorization of Congress, un- 
less in the fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy ? There shall 
not. Ayes, 42 ; noes, 112. 

So the Committee of the Whole sustained General Jack- 
son on every point. Jackson triumphed — Jackson always 
triumphed. 

The news in England caused a slight depression in the 
funds. The London papers denounced anew the acts which 
the House sustained. One of them, puzzled to account for 
votes so extraordinary and unexpected, conjectured that they 
were due to " the brutalizing influence of slavery." The tnie 
explanation, as I think, was this : Mr. Clay and his friends 
contented themselves with sentiment and declamation. The 
thing, wanted was a complete exhibition of the facts. 

Johnson and Poindexter did not disdain declamation, but 
they did not rely upon it. Their speeches, which were the 
result of great labor, placed in clear array before the House 
every fact and semblance of a fact which made against the 
prisoners or against the Spaniards. The effect of such 
speeches can not be counteracted by declamation alone. If 
there had been but one hard-headed, pains-taking, resolute 
man in the House, who had spent ten days in reading and 
comparing the evidence relating to the invasion of Florida 
and the execution of the prisoners, and two days more in 
presenting to the House a complete exposition of the same, 
hammering home the vital points with tireless reiteration, the 
final votes would not have been what they were. The cause, 
despite the month's debate, was, after all, decided without a 
hearing ! 

Mr. Clay found, to his cost, that to hit a lion without 
killing him is very bad for the hunter. Lions have not usually 
the complaisance to give the hunter a second chance. Mr. 
Clay never had a second chance. He spent the rest of his lif* 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 551 

in the chase, but never could get a really good shot at the 
game again. 

The Senate liad not yet spoken. Early in the session the 
subject had been referred by the Senate to a select committee, 
of which Mr. Abner Lacock of Pennsylvania (particular friend 
of Mr, Crawford) was appointed chairman. An attempt was 
made by Major Eaton of Tennessee (friend, neighbor and 
biographer of General Jackson) to frustrate the investigation. 
A vacancy having occurred in the committee by the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Forsyth to a foreign mission, Mr. Lacock pro- 
posed the appointment of another member to fill the vacancy. 
Major Eaton moved to postpone the consideration of that 
motion until the 5th of March, one day after Congress would 
necessarily adjourn. The motion to postpone was defeated 
by a vote of twenty-one to sixteen. So the vacancy was filled, 
and the investigation proceeded. 

This committee was engaged in the investigation from the 
12th of December until the 24th of February. There was 
much sending for persons and papers. Members of General 
Jackson's stafi'were examined. General Mitchel, from Georgia, 
gave important testimony. It was very soon conjectured in 
Washington and known to General Jackson that a majority 
of the committeee were disposed to make thorough work of 
the investigation, and were inclined to give full weight to the 
evidence supposed to be adverse to the General. Wild stories 
were current in the city of General Jackson's wrathful denun- 
ciations of certain members of the committee. Mr. Lacock 
himself wrote to Mr. John Binns, of Philadelphia, editor of a 
Crawford Republican journal : " General Jackson is still here, 
and by times raves like a madman. He has sworn most bit- 
terly he would cut off the ears of every member of the com- 
mittee who reported against his conduct. This bullying is 
done in public, and yet I have passed his lodgings every day, 
and still retain my ears. Thus far I consider myself fortunate. 
How long I shall be spared without mutilation I know not, 
but one thing I can promise you, that I shall never avoid him 
a single inch; and as the civil authority here seems to be put 



652 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

down by the military, I shall be ready and willing to defend 
myself, and not die soft. I will remain here as long as he 
does, and take the consequences. I have most conscien- 
tiously discharged my duty to the nation, and shall take 
with me to private life what will console me much, the ap- 
probation of a good conscience ; of this the world can not 
dei)rive me."* 

Mr. Lacock, in later years, gave a great deal of informa- 
tion respecting the influences brought to bear upon the select 
committee. His letters show that Crawford, not Calhoun, 
was the member of the Cabinet with whom he was in closest 
accord at this period. Calhoun, he proves, desired .the ac- 
quittal of General Jackson by the committee, not his censure. 
In 1832 Mr. Lacock wrote to General Jackson himself upon 
this subject, and the particular attention of the reader is in- 
vited to the material part of his letter ; for, in view of sub- 
sequent events, this epistle has much significance for us. I 
need only premise, that between Crawford and Calhoun there 
was a feud, lasting and embittered, and that Mr. Lacock, as 
before remarked, and as will shortly be shown, was Mr. Craw- 
ford's devoted friend. 

ABNER LACOCK TO GENERAL JACKSON. 

" Freedom, Beaver County, Penn., ) 
"June 25, 1832. ) 

" Sir : Some days since, through the medium of a mutual friend, I re- 
ceived your letter, inclosing a number of interrogatories that I am requested 
to answer, in relation to the knowledge I have of the course pursued by 
John C. Calhoun, Vice President of the United States, and his conduct to- 
wards you in regard to your conduct in the Seminole war. By the same 
mail I received a line from Mr. Calhoun, in which he states that you had 
furnished him with a copy of the interrogatories, and that he had declined 
putting any questions to me, or what he terms ' joining issue,' but had no 
objection I should answer whatever questions you should put, requesting, 
however, as a matter of justice, to be furnished with a copy of ray answers. 
To a compliance with this request I could see no valid objection, and have 
furnished him with a copy accordingly. 

* Autobiography of John Binns, p. 258. 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 553 

" Intetrogatories put hy Andrew Jackson, to Abner LacocJc, of Pennsylvania : 

" 1. * Did Mr. John C. Calhoun, at any time during the session of Con- 
gress in the winter of 1818 and 1819, or at any other time, mention to you 
my confidential letter to Mr. Monroe, dated 6th January, 1818, relative to 
Florida and the Seminole war — show you that letter, a copy thereof, or 
speak of its contents ? Did he ever tell you that letter had been answered ? 
If yea, what did he say was the substance of that answer? If nay, did be 
give any reasons why an answer was not given, and what ? What did you 
understand to be Mr. Calhoun's object in speaking to you of that letter ?' 

" Answer. ' Mr. Calhoun never did, at any time, or upon any occasion, 
communicate to me, either verbally or in writing, his knowledge of the 
existence of such a letter, or of its contents ; altliough, at the time alluded 
to, I had a knowledge of the contents of the letter, I did not derive that 
knowledge from Mr. Calhoun, nor have I ever made a suggestion to any 
man that would justify such a belief.' 

" 2. ' Did Mr. Calhoun at any time, and when, communicate to you the 
views expressed, as the course pursued by him in Mr. Monroe's cabinet in 
relation to my conduct in the Seminole war? if yea, what were those 
views and that course ? What opinion, if any, did Mr. Calhoun express to 
you as, at the time of your conversation, entertained by him relative to my 
orders, and the manner in which I had executed them ?' 

"Answer. ' Some time in January, 1819, 1 think towards the latter end 
of the month, Mr. Calhoun called upon me in the Senate chamber, and 
asked me intQ a committee room, and when there, said he wished to con- 
verse with me in regard to your operations in Florida, as that subject was 
before a committee of which he had understood I was chairman. He then 
stated that the subject had embarrassed the administration, and presented 
many difficulties at first, but a course was finally agreed upon that he had 
flattered himself would have been generally acquiesced in and approved, 
and he was sorry to find himself mistaken, or words to this effect. We 
then went on to compare opinions and discuss the subject. Among otker 
things, I stated expressly that, firom the facts disclosed, it was my opinion 
you had, in the prosecution of the Seminole war, exercised cruel and un- 
precedented severity in putting to death captive Indians and Biitish traders; 
that, by the forcible seizure of the Spanish posts, you had transcended your 
orders and usurped the power of Congress, and, consequently, violated tha 
Constitution of the United States. Mr. Calhoun repUed that he agree<i 
with me that the capturing the Spanish posts was unauthorized and i^lo- 
gal ; and he said, when the subject was first presented by the President, 
he had been for taking pretty strong ground, and instituting an inquiry 
into your conduct, but, after mature consideration, the Cabinet had made 
a different decision, and he had acquiesced; and he observed he had yielded 



554 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

Lis opin.on with less reluctance, finding the President strongly inclined U> 
adopt a different course ; and, he added, that while he was a member of 
the Cabinet, he should consider it his duty to sustain the measures of the 
President if it could be done with any propriety, or words to this import. 
To a suggestion by me, that we differed in opinion as to whether you were 
or were not reprehensible for your conduct, he replied, to decide this ques- 
tion regard must be had to your motives. These, he believed, had been 
pure and patriotic ; that, from mistaken zeal in the service of your coun- 
try, you had exceeded the powers given you, or any the President had a 
right to bestow. At the same time, he observed that Spain deserved from 
us the treatment she had received, and a surrender of the posts was all she 
had a right to look for ; that whether you were culpable or not was a con- 
cern of our own, not hers. He spoke of the acquisition of the Floridas, 
then a subject of negotiation with the Spanish minister Don Onis, and the 
orosnect of a favorable result, that he was apprehensive might be defeated 
or endangered by a vote of censure, or the disapproval of your conduct. 1 
told Mr. Calhoun, in reply, that his views, or those of a similar nature, on 
the subject, had been previously presented to me by the President, but he 
had failed to convince me that there were either consistency or safety in 
the course adopted by the administration. That, if the seizure of the 
Spanish posts by you was lawful, constitutional, and in obedience to orders 
given, they should not have been surrendered ; and, on the other hand, if 
their capture was illegal, unconstitutional, and in violation of your orders, 
you were highly reprehensible, and to pass over such conduct without cen- 
sure or animadversion was to sanction it, and acting upon and fortified by 
this precedent, every land or naval officer in our service might, in future, 
involve the nation in war at his discretion or caprice. Such, I stated, 
were my views, and, having been charged by the Senate with the investi- 
gation, I should not shi-ink fi-om the responsibility of faithfully discharging 
my duty. Mr. Calhoun then said he would not wish to be understood as 
objecting to the inquiry ; it was rather the spirit with which it was carried 
on'that had given him surprise. He had understood that Governor Mitchell, 
of Georgia, who had just arrived in the city, had been sent for to give evi- 
dence ; that his testimony should be viewed with allowance, as he was the 
personal enemy of General Gaines, and, he believed, equally so of General 
Jackson ; that Mitchell was an Indian agent, and charges had been, or 
would be, as he understood, preferred against him, that would, if estab- 
lished, seriously affect his character, and he wished to put me on my guard. 
I assured him Governor Mitchell had not been sent for by order of the 
committee, nor, to my knowledge, written to by any member of it. That, 
after his arrival, I was told by Mr. Forsyth that he was in pos.session of 
many facts connected with the Seminole war, and this I had mentioned to 
the committee, and, by bis order, he was subpoenaed 



1819.] VERDICT OF THE HOUSE. 555 

" In repeating the above conversation between Mr. Calhoun and my- 
self, I do not pretend that I have used the precise words made use of by 
ua, but I am certain that I have not been mistaken in their import or 
meaning. x 

" This conversation was not considered by me as confidential, nor was 
it enjoined on me as such. 

" 3. ' Was your object in consulting Mr. Calhoun to procure informa- 
tion to aid you in forming your report upon my conduct in the Seminole 
war, made to the Senate in February, 1819 ? Did Mr. Calhoun understand 
that to be your object ?' 

*• Answer. ' I never did consult Mr. Calhoun, or any other member of Mr. 
Monroe's cabinet, with a view of obtaining information or aid in forming 
, the report, unless the circumstances and facts I am about to mention may 
be so considered. 

" Previous to Mr. Forsyth's appointmeM as minister to Spain, and 
when he was a member of the committee, he had more than once stated 
to me his beUef that you had issued orders to General Gaines, after the 
close of the Seminole war, directing the capture of St. Augustine, the capi- 
tal of East Florida, and that these orders had been countermanded by the 
President. But, as the documents furnished by the War Department con- 
tained no evidence of the fact, we were uninformed on the subject until I 
was, long afterwards, informed by Mr. Eaton, of the committee, that 
orders to that elFect had been issued by you, and that the place would 
have been taken had not the orders been countermanded ; this he gave as 
an evidence of your firmness and decision, and the absence of those quali- 
ties in the administration. This information induced me, soon afterwards, 
to call on Mr. Calhoun at the War Office ; Mr. Eoberts, my colleague, wa? 
in company. Upon inquiry, Mr. Calhoun told me that such orders had 
been issued by you, and were immediately countermanded. I inquired 
why this correspondence had not been furnished. 

"He said it never had been called for. I replied that the calls were in 
general terms, and comprehended all the information on the subject of the 
Seminole war that was safe and proper for the Executive to communicate, 
or words to that effect. Here Mr. Calhoun, in the most bland and concil- 
iatory manner (I remember his words distinctly), observed, * Had you not 
better try General Jackson for what he has done, and not for what he had 
designed to do.' I answered him I was not governed by personal hostiU- 
ties tc you, nor was any member of the committee ; we wished to do our- 
selves, the country, and you strict justice; and for this purpose we wished 
all the information that could be rightfully obtained. If the correspond- 
ence was of a private or confidential nature, I did not ask it ; if of a public 
nature, we had a right to receive it. Mr. Calhoun said he would be glad 
if I would consult the President, and if he had no objection, he would send 



556 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

me the correspondence, if I would call for it as chairman of the committee, 
I immediately called on the President, and, when informed of the object of 
my visit, he said he had not examined the Seminole documents since their 
publication, nor did he know that the correspondence in question had 
been withheld (or words to this purpose), but if it were so, he was per- 
fectly satisfied it should be furnished. I gave the information to Mr. 
Calhoun, and he soon afterwards sent to the committee a copy of the cor- 
respondence. 

" 4. ' Did Mr. Calhoun see your report, or any part of it, before it was 
made ? Did he, before it was made, or afterwards, in direct allusion to the 
report, or otherwise, express to you his concurrence in the views therein 
expressed ? What other views, or opinions, or facts, if any, relative to my 
conduct or his, in the affair of the Seminole war, did Mr. Calhoun commu- 
nicate to you at that or any other time ?' 

"Answer. ' Mr. Calhoun never did see the report, or any part of it, be- 
fore it was made, nor has he at any time, before or since the report was 
made, expressed to me his concurrence in the views taken therein, other 
than what I have already stated in my answer to the second interrogatory, 
and that passed in the committee room ; nor has Mr. Calhoun, in any man- 
ner or upon any occasion, since I called upon him at the War Ofiice, as 
above stated, communicated to me his sentiments or opinions on the sub- 
ject of the Seminole war, or your conduct in Florida.' " 

Any duplicity here on the part of Mr. Calhoun ? Judge, 
reader. It is a question upon which you will have to decide 
by and by. It is one which rent a cabinet asunder, split a 
party, made Presidents, changed history. 

Between the final vote of the House upon the Seminole 
war and the presentation to the Senate of Mr. Lacock's Re- 
port sixteen days elapsed, during which General Jackson 
embraced an opportunity to learn the opinions of the p(;ople 
upon the questions debated so long at the Capitol. The 
people spoke their sentiments in that language which is pop- 
ularly described as " not to be misunderstood." 



1819.] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 557 

CHAPTER XLI. 

A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 

General Jackson left Washington on the 11th of Feb- 
ruary for a visit to Philadelphia and New York. New York he 
had never seen. Twenty-three years had elapsed since his first 
visit to Philadelphia, when no one remarked him except to stare 
at his eelskin queue, his coarse raiment and his western style. 

His arrival at Baltimore, on his way to the north, was 
unexpected, and the weather was inclement during his stay. 
He was, therefore, merely visited by the magnates of the 
city, who obtained from him a promise to remain longer on 
his return. On Monday evening, the 15th of the month, he 
reached Philadelphia. His four days' stay at that city was 
a ceaseless ovation. The officers of the city militia waited 
upon him as soon as he arrived, presented an address to which 
the General rej)lied, and invited him to partake of a public 
dinner. His rooms, on the following day, were thronged with 
visitors. In the evening, we are told, when he visited the 
Olympic Theater, " the very ring in which the equestrian 
exercises are performed was filled with men and women ! 
When he made his appearance, there were shouts of applause 
that showed how abundant was the love of the people for the 
saviour of our New Orleans." 

The public dinner was given at the " Washington Hall 
Hotel, a large and respectable company being present." 
Major Pierce Butler presided, assisted by Charles Biddle and 
Chandler Price. " The toasts," say the newspapers, " were 
neat and appropriate. The following was given : 

" By the President of the day — ' Our illustrious guest. 
Major General Andrew Jackson. May he long enjoy the 
affection of his fellow-citizens, for his gallant services on 
various occasions, particularly in the signal repulse of an in- 
vading army, near New Orleans.' 

" After this toast, General Jackson, in a dignified and 



558 LIFE OF ANDREW JACK&ON. [1819. 

impressive manner, offered his thanks for the polite atten- 
tions and distinguished honors he had received, and expressing 
his high sense of the gratitude we owed the heroes and states- 
men of the Kevolution for our present happiness and elevated 
national character, he gave the following toast : 

" ' The memory of Benjamin Frankl-in.' " 

The next morning the General left Philadelphia. He 
reached South Amboy after a long day's ride, and took steam- 
boat the next day for New York. A scene occurred in the 
cabin of this vessel, as she was steaming up the bay, which I 
have heard described by a venerable eye-witness — the Rev. 
Dr. Van Pelt of New York. General Jackson was sitting in 
the cabin, the center of a group of gentlemen who had been 
conversing with him on various national topics, in a quiet 
and amicable manner, as became the occasion. At length, a 
New Yorker present was so unfortunate as to say, 

" Some of our people here at the north. General, think 
you were rather severe in altering the sentence of Ambrister, 
and ordering him to be shot !" 

A spark in a powder-flask ! The General turned quickly 
toward the audacious utterer of this blasphemy, looked at 
him sharply for a moment, rose to his feet, and began at the 
same moment to talk and pace the floor. 

" Sir," he exclaimed, " that matter is misunderstood. In 
the same circumstances I would do the same thing again. 
They were spies, sir, they were spies. Their execution was 
necessary. The example was needed. The war would not 
otherwise have ended so speedily as it did. The British gov- 
ernment has not complained. The Spanish government does 
not now complain. It is only our own people who are dis- 
satisfied. Why, sir, these men were British subjects. If the 
execution was unjust, why has not th^ British government 
remonstrated ? No, sir ; they were spies. They ought to 
have been executed. And, I tell you sir, that I would do the 
game again." 

No one venturing to reply to those vehement observations, 
the storm subsided, and the General resumed his seat. 



1819.] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 559 

From of old New York has surpassed all known cities in 
the art of receiving distinguished strangers. You may be 
sure, beloved reader, that there were grand doings in Gotham 
on this occasion. As the steamboat rounded the Battery, no son 
of Manhattan need be told that a salute from an artillery com- 
pany thundered welcome to the approaching guest, nor that, 
upon his landing, the General was escorted to the City Hall 
by the " Governor's Guards." Previous to his arrival the 
Common Council had voted him the freedom of the city in a 
gold box, and appointed a committee to wait upon the recip- 
ient during his stay. Upon reaching the City Hall the Gen- 
eral received his gold box from the hands of Mayor Colden, 
who accompanied the gift with an address, which, it was ob- 
served, contained no allusion to the Seminole war. The Gen- 
eral replied as follows : 

" Sir, the distinguished honor which the Common Council of the city 
of New York has conferred by my admission as a freeman of their city is 
to me a source of the highest gratification, and will ever be recollected with 
feelings of the warmest sensibility. To be associated with those who have 
been distinguished for their patriotism and zealous attachment to the Eepub- 
lican principles of our government is the most exalted station of an Ameri- 
can citizen. The approbation you have been pleased to express of my 
humble efforts in the field command my grateful acknowledgments ; for 
those sentiments am I indebted to the bravery of the troops I had the 
honor to command. 

" In what I have done for my country, had I erred in the discharge of 
my official duty, that error would have originated in the warmth of my 
devotion to her interest and a misapplication of the means best calculated 
to promote her happiness and prosperity. But to find that my conduct has 
been sanctioned by my government, and approved by my fellow-citizens, 
is a source of happiness unequaled in the occurrences of my life ; for the 
proudest honor wliich can grace the soldier, and the richest reward which 
lie can receive for the fatigues, perils and privations of his profession, is the 
approbation of a grateful country." 

The " Croaker" of the Evening Post was then enjoying 
his first celebrity. Joseph Kodman Drake was the name of 
this satirical rhymer, to whom was afterwards joined a kin- 
dred wit, Fitz-Greene Halleck, and the contributions of the 



560 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1819 

poetical firm were then labelled " Croaker & Co." At the 
time of General Jackson's visit to New York, the partnership 
had not yet been formed. The following effusion, therefore, 
must be ascribed to the author of the Culprit Fay : 

"on presenting the freedom of the city in a gold box to a great 

GENERAL. 

" The board is met — the names are read ; 

Elate of heart the glad committee 
Declare the mighty man has said 

He'll ' take the freedom of the city.' 
He thanks the council and the mayor, 

Presents 'em all his humble service ; 
And thinks he's time enough to spare 

To sit an hour or so with Jarvis. 

" Hurra I hurra ! prepare the room — 
Skaats I are the ham and oysters come ? 
Go — make some savory whiskey punch, 
The General takes it with his lunch ; 
For a sick stomach 'tis a comfit, 
And vastly useful in a surfeit. 

" But see ! the mayor is in the chair. 

The council is convened again; 
And, ranged in many a circle fair, 

■The ladies and the gentlemen, 
Sit mincing, bowing, smiling, talking 

Of Congress — balls — the Indian force — 
Some think the General will be walking. 

And some suppose he'll ride, of course ; 
And some are whistling — some are humming— 

And some are peering in the Park 
To try if they can see him coming; 

And some are half asleep — when hark 1 1 1 

• "A triumph on the war-like drum, 

A heart-uplifting bugle strain, 
A fife's far flourish — and ' they come,' 

Rung from the gathered train. 
Sit down — the fun will soon commence — 

Quick! quick, your honor ! mount your place ; 
Present your loaded compHments, 

And fire a volley in his face I 



1819.] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 561 

" They 're at it now — great guns and small — 
Squib, cracker, cannon, musketry; 
Dear General I though you swallow all, 
I must confess it sickens me. 

" Croakeh.*" 

On the same day General Jackson dined with the mayor, 
who had invited a brilliant company to meet him. In the 
evening he attended the theater, which, to quote the news- 
papers, " was crowded to excess, and he was received with 
shouts of applause that for a considerable time suspended the 
performance." 

" The next day he partook of the public dinner prepared at 
Tammany Hall, which was tastefully decorated for the occa- 
sion. The Mayor presided, supported by several most re- 
spectable vice-presidents. The company consisted of nearly 
four hundred persons. The toasts were all exceedingly good. 
We select the following as specially belonging to the occa- 
sion : 

'' Andrew Jackson. — The saviour of the South ; while the 
Mississippi bears her tribute to the ocean, his name and hia 
deeds want no other remembrancer. 

" The Spartan band of modern story. — The volunteers of 
Kentucky and Tennessee on the ramparts of New Orleans." 

The toast offered by Oeneral Jackson on this occasion is 
said to have been extremely unwelcome to a part of the com- 
pany. It was : — 

" De Witt Clinton, the enlightened Statesman, and Gov- 
ernor of the great and patriotic State of New York." 

To enable the reader to understand why this seemingly 
innocent and very appropriate toast should have excited any 
but agreeable feelings in the company assembled, it would be 
necessary to write a treatise on that most unfathomable of 
subjects, the Pohtics of the State of New York. Suffice it 
here to say, that then, as now, the Democratic party was 
divided into two hostile factions, one of which regarded 
Clinton as its chief, and the other, Mr. Van Buren. A large 

o^eu; York Evening Post, March 11, 1819. 
VOL. 11. — 36 



562 LIFE %!• ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

proportion of the company present belonged to the anti- 
Clintonian wing of the party. There was another reason why 
the toast created the sensation it did. De Witt Clinton had, 
for some years past, cherished presidential aspirations. He 
had been a candidate for the presidency against Mr. Madison 
during the war of 1812. In 1819 he might have been de- 
fined as an Anti-Crawford, Anti-Caucus Conservative Re- 
publican candidate for the succession. It is probable that 
Grencral Jackson, in proposing the name of the Governor to 
the company, was not quite so " innocent" as some of the 
gentlemen present appeared to have esteemed him. A float- 
ing paragraph of the day stated that De Witt Clinton was 
the standing toast at General Jackson's own table. ••' 

The wits of the town did not fail to improve the oppor- 
tunity which the toast afforded them. " It is rumored," said 
the Evening Post, (which still adhered to the Federal party, 
or its ghost), " that this toast was so little relished by most 
of those who swallowed it (which they did with the same grim- 

* Governor Clinton reciprocated General Jackson's friendly feeling. One of 
General Scott's letters to General Jackson, wbich were made public about this 
time, contained a paragraph which was supposed to reflect upon Do Witt Clinton. 
The Governor issued in consequence the following card • — 

" To TOE Public. — General Scott, of the army of the United States, having 
in a letter of the 2d of January, 1818, to General Jackson, insinuated that I had 
written, dictated, or instigated an anonymous letter to the latter gentleman from 
unworthy motives and for improper purposes; and having also concealed this 
imputation from me until the publication of a pamphlet which reached me on the 
4th instant, I have considered it proper to declare that the intimation of General 
Scott is totally and unqualifiedly false, to all intents and in all respects. This 
declaration is made from motives of respect for public opinion, and not for any 
regard for General Scott, whose conduct on this occasion is at such total variance 
with honor and propriety as to render him unworthy of the notice of a man who 
has any respect for himself. 

" It is not probable that I can at this time have any recollection of having 
had the honor of seeing General Scott, as he suggests, on the 9th of June, 1817, 
at a dinner in New York, or of the topics of conversation. Circumstances so 
unimportant are not apt to be impressed on the memory. But I feel a confident 
persuasion that I did not make use of any expression incompatible with the high 
respect which I entertain for General Jackaon. 

" De Witt Clinton. 

"Albany, 6tli Apnl, 1819." 



1819.] A CHAPTER OF GUJRY. 563' 

cace a man takes physic, for they well knew it would not 
have been very safe to refuse it), that when the General left 
the table, which he did directly afterwards, with an air and 

manner that seemed to say, ' there, d n you, take that,' a 

consultation was held by some few to know what steps to take 
to parry this deadly thrust. At length it was suggested by a 
shrewd old fellow that it would be an apt retaliation to drink 
as one of the volunteers, 'James Rabun, the enlightened 
Statesman and Governor of the great and patriotic State of 
Georgia.' This was agreed to as an excellent proposal ; but 
it was on the whole thought most prudent to postpone it 
till General Jackson had returned home, and then a dinner 
was to be ^ot up on purpose." 

The Croaker, too, found in the General's mishap an occa- 
sion for the exercise of his talent. The following appeared in 
the Evening Post a few days after : 

THE " SECRET MINE" SPRUNG AT A LATE SUPPER. 

" The songs were good, for Mead and Hawkins* sung 'em, 

The wine went round, 'twas laughter all and joke ; 
"When crack ! the General sprung a mine among 'em, 

And beat a safe retreat amid the smoke : 
As fall the sticks of rockets when we fire 'em, 

So fell the Bucktails at that toast accurst; 
Looking like Corah, Dathan and Abiram, 

When the firm earth beneath their footsteps burst. 

" Quell'd is big HafF,t who oft has fire and flood stood. 
More pallid grows the snowy cheek of Rose, 
Cold sweats bedew the leathern hide of Bloodgood, 
Deep sinks the concave of huge Edwards' nose! 
• But see the Generals Golden and Bogardus, 
Joy sits enthroned in each elated eye ; 
While Doyle and Mumford clap their fists as hard as 
The iron mauls in Pierson's factory. 

• TLese gentlemen were noted for their weak voices and bad singing. 

f The names were only indicated by initials and stars on the first publication 
of the poem. The names are supplied, in the copy above, by Mr. John B. 
Moreaq of New York, who is versed in the lore of Manhattan. 



664 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [ 1819 

" The midnight conclave met, good Johnny Targee 

Begins (as usual) to bestow advice ; 
' Declare the General a fool, I charge ye ! 

And swear the toast was not his own free choice ; 
Tell 'em that Clinton prompted — and maintain it, 

That is the fact, I'm sure ; but we can see 
By sending Aleck down to ascertain it.' 
That hint was taken, and accordingly 

" A certain member had a conversation 

And asked a certain surgeon all about it ; 
Some folks assert he got the information ; 

'Tis also said, he came away without it : 
Good people all I I'm up to more than you know ; 

But prudence frowns — my coward goose quill lingers, 
For fear that flint-and-trigger Doctor Bronaugh* 
Should slip a challenge in your poet's fingers 1 

" Ckoaker." 

Tlie festivities in honor of General Jackson did not ter- 
minate with the public dinner. " On the 22d/' we are furthei 
told, " there was a very respectable ball and supper in honor 
of Washington's birthday ; but the opportunity was also em- 
braced to honor the General. Every thing was in great style. 
Seven hundred persons were present. "When the General 
entered he was saluted by a discharge of artillery from a min- 
iature fort raised on the orchestra. The supper room was 
thrown open at twelve o'clock, and so numerous was the com- 
pany that there was scarce room for the ladies. Over the 
head of this elegant table was a transparency with this motto, 
' In the midst of festivity, forget not the services and sacri- 
fices of those who have enabled you to enjoy it.' This was 
surmounted by a bust of Washington crowned with laurel. 
From the joy and hilarity that prevailed, we calculated on a 
complete exhaustion of animal spirits in order to account for 
a certain flagging that appeared after supper ; but to our sur- 
prise there was suddenly displayed from the new orchestra, 
with the swiftness of a telegraph or signal, a flag on which 
there was the revivifying motto, 'Don't give up the ship !' 

* Dr. Bronaugh accompanied General Jackson. 



XSlO.l A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 565 

The effect was electric — the band struck up ' Washington's 
March,' and the ball seemed but beginning ! The diffusion 
of light upon an assemblage the most brilliant we ever beheld, 
the taste with which the room was decorated with nearly two 
hundred flags, including those of almost all the nations of the 
world, combined with the military glitter of about two hun- 
dred gentlemen in uniform, interspersed in the dance with the 
female beauty and elegance of the city, produced an effect 
of the most pleasing nature." 

In addition to all this, we are told that " whenever the 
General went into the streets it was difficult to find a passage 
through them, so great was the desire of the people to see 
him." And, on his departure, he was " escorted by the third 
regiment of artillery to Staten Island, and, with many dis- 
tinguished characters, partook of some refreshment with the 
Vice President of the United States," Daniel D. Tompkins. 

The General remained four or five days in New York. 
He was at Baltimore again on the 27th of February, where 
another distinguished reception awaited him. He reached 
Baltimore at the inconvenient hour of four in the morning, 
but " his approach was announced by discharges of artillery 
from a detachment of Captain Wilson's Independent Blues, 
stationed on Federal Hill. On landing he was received by 
Captain Barrett's fine company of Regular Blues, and very 
handsomely escorted to his quarters at Williamson's Hotel. 
During the day he was waited upon by great numbers of our 
most respectable citizens, who were received by him with great 
aff^ibility and frankness. At one o'clock the members of the 
City Council and the officers of the corporation, with the 
Mayor at their head, visited him, and presented to him an 
address." 

" The General replied, with his usual tact, that the happi- 
ness which he "derived from this distinguished honor was 
heightened by the recollection that it was offered by a portion 
of his fellow-citizens who gloriously participated in the perils 
and privations of the late contest with a powerful nation ; 
who, with the spirit of freemen, met the foe at their thresh- 



566 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819 

olds, and, with valor equal to their patriotism, drove him from 
their shores, and saved a great and flourishing city from his 
incendiary grasp." 

" The Common Council of Baltimore," continue the journal- 
ists of the day, " passed a resolution, unanimously, to request 
General Jackson to sit to Mr. Peale for his portrait, to be 
placed in the Council Chamber among the portraits of other 
distinguished characters, to which the General assented. In 
the course of this day the General paid a visit to Captain 
George Stiles, late Mayor of our city, languishing on the bed 
of sickness, after having suffered exceedingly, almost without 
the hope of recovery. The interview was remarkably affect- 
ing, the character and services of Captain Stiles being well 
known to the General. The Captain, influenced by a variety 
of reflections rushing suddenly on his mind, burst into a flood 
of tears on beholding, for the first time, the saviour of New 
Orleans, and the hardy veteran was not much less affected. 
He also shed tears on seeing the condition of the man to 
whom, more than to any other, Baltimore stood indebted for 
her preservation. In the evening the General visited Mr. 
Guy's splendid exhibition of landscape paintings, the room 
being brilliantly illuminated for his reception, and graced 
with the presence of many ladies and gentlemen. As he en- 
tered a full band of music greeted him with, ' See the con- 
quering hero comes !' 

" On Sunday evening he attended divine worship at the 
Independent Church, having been invited to attend there. 
That elegant and capacious edifice was completely filled with 
people, and hundreds could not get admittance. On Monday 
he attended a presentation of colors by Miss Eliza W. O'Don- 
nel to that fine company of infantry the Columbian Volun- 
teers. He then visited Fort McHenry, where he was received 
with the honors due to his rank. At twelve o'clock he began 
a review of the third and fourteenth brigades of MaVyland 
militia, drawn up in line in Market street. Though the 
weather was inclement, the brigades were very full, and the 
street and houses, up to the chimney tops, were filled with 



1819.1 A CHAFTER OF GLORY. 567 

people. On the dismissal of the troops he was waited upon 
by General Heath, at the head of the officers of his brigade, 
and presented with a very handsome and patriotic address. 
At five o'clock he sat down to the public dinner at the as- 
sembly room. The Mayor of the city ])rt'sided. More than 
two hundred of our most respectable citizens were pres- 
ent to partake of a luxurious feast of good things. At 
the back of the General was a transparency inscribed with 
the names of the places at which he had chiefly distin- 
guished himself, the whole surmounted by a wreath of 
evergreens." 

Seated in the place of honor at this luxurious banquet, 
we must leave General Jackson for a moment while we re- 
count the events that had occurred in Washington during his 
absence, a brief outline of which was communicated to him 
just as the toast to the guest of the evening was about to be 
proposed. 

On the 24th of February Mr. Lacock presented his report 
to the Senate. The committee consisted of five members, of 
whom three concurred in the report, which was couched in 
language temperate but plain, and had the merit of being 
free from canting laudation. It went dead against Jackson on 
every point, from the raising of the Tennessee volunteers to 
the taking of Pensacola. A number of the documents and 
afiidavits, upon which the report was founded, were appended 
to it. Among these there were affidavits or statements by 
Senator Eaton and Colonel Robert Butler respecting the 
speculation in Pensacola lands of Captain Donelson and 
other friends of General Jackson in 1817. As these state- 
ments proved that General Jackson had no interest, present 
or prospective, in those speculations, and as Mr, Lacock did 
not allude to them in his report, it looked as though they were 
inserted among the documents for the purpose of hinting a 
suspicion of the purity of General Jackson's motives. Why 
refute a charge, he might have asked, that no one has made "? 
Why drop a hint for hostile newspapers to take up .^ The 
publication of these documents, exculpatory though they 



568 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

were, General Jackson always regarded in tlie light of an 
accusation. 

Upon the presentation of the report the Senate, by a vote 
of thirty-one to three, ordered it to be printed (five hundrea 
extra copies), and to lie on the table. This was but nine 
days before the expiration of the session, 

Mr. Benton having thought proper to omit all allusion to 
this report from his Abridgment of the Debates, we are 
obliged to resort to the debates unabridged to ascertain its 
character and history. It was a curious coincidence that the 
very number of the National Intelligencer (that of February 
25th, 1819) which records the presentation of the report and 
the action of the Senate thereon, contained also the announce- 
ment, in an editorial, semi-official article, arrayed in all the 
conspicuousness of treble leads, of the conclusion of the treaty 
with the Spanish minister, which, after so many years of ne- 
gotiation, ceded Florida to the United States ! A direct re- 
sult, thought the people, of General Jackson's energetic 
measures and Mr. Adams' powerful defense of them. Who 
cared, at such a moment, for Mr, Lacock's adverse report ? 
In the presence of such a fact, what availed the protesting 
word ? The report would have fallen unnoticed to the ground 
but for the efiect it produced upon the mind of the victorious 
General. 

He heard of it, as we have said, while he was seated at 
the banquet of hospitable Baltimore. The toast of the even- 
ing was soon after proposed : 

" General Jackson — Who, like the Carthaginian war- 
rior, passed the prohibited bounds of an enemy to close with 
him at home ; and, like Hannibal, victorious in the field, des- 
tined to be assailed in the Senate." 

The company understood the allusion. Springing to their 
feet they honored the toast with nine tremendous cheers, and 
one cheer more. As soon as silence was restored the Genera) 
rose to return thanks. " What I have done," said he, with 
faltermg voice, " was for my country. Conscious that the 
first object of my heart has ever been to advance our pros- 



1819. 1 A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 569 

perity and happiness, to receive the approbation of my fellow- 
citizens is to me a source of the highest gratification. It is 
the proudest reward of a soldier. Not only my public acts, 
but my private character have been assailed. I have been 
charged with personal, mercenary views in occupying Florida. 
I scorn to answer so degrading an accusation ; it is as base 
as it is absurd, and could only originate in bosoms destitute 
of every manly virtue. I have no fear but my country will 
do me justice. I now, sir, beg leave to give you — 

" ' The 12th and 13th of September, 1814 — The days 
on which freemen defeated the conquerors of Europe, and un- 
der the proud waving of the ' star-spangled banner' saved Bal- 
timore from incendiary pollution.' " 

At nine o'clock in the evening, while the hilarity of the 
occasion was at its highest. General Jackson and his suit left 
the apartment. A few minutes after they were riding rapidly 
toward Washington, forty miles distant, where they arrived 
at break of day on the 2d of March. But two days of the 
session remained. 

Kespecting the conduct of General Jackson after his return 
to Washington we have many accounts, all of which are 
based on the rumors current in the city at the time. Mr. 
Lacock, for example, wrote, and in later years reasserted, the 
following version of those rumors : 

" Upon the return of General Jackson to Washington his 
threats and menaces were repeated with increased violence ; 
and General Jackson's threats of vengeance, and of cutting 
off the ears of members of Congress, became a topic of pretty 
general conversation. I am very confident that there was not 
a man belonging to the government, holding any tiling like a 
conspicuous station, from the President down, and few mem- 
bers of Congress but what heard and believed these things — 
nor did I ever hear of their being denied until the present 
canvass (1828). With others, I heard of and believed that 
such threats had been made ; but I did not believe he had 
any serious intention of carrying his threats into execution 
imtil a day or two after the adjournment of Congress, when 



570 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

I heard of Commodore Decatur having prevented him from 
entering the Senate chamber to attack Mr. Eppes. Not 
having a personal knowledge of the transaction, I can not 
speak of the fact further than that I heard it from several 
respectable persons in Washington, at the time ; and I know, 
with perfect certainty, that the whole scene was thus related : 
that General Jackson went to the Capitol in a carriage, and 
near the door of the Senate he was met by Commodore De- 
catur, who, knowing or being informed of General Jackson's 
intention to fall upon Mr. Eppes, the Commodore, by en- 
treaties and expostulations, induced the General to return to 
his carriage. This was told publicly, as coming from the Com- 
modore personally, and from this authority it obtained cred- 
ence as far as it was heard. I believed it and still believe it. 

" Nor will I deny that I felt some apprehensions for my 
own personal safety. I could see no reason why General 
Jackson should have selected Mr. Eppes as his victim, who 
was at that time sorely afflicted with disease, rather than the 
chairman of the committee. Impressed with this belief, I 
mentioned this circumstance to Mr. Crawford (then Secretary 
of the Treasury, a name I never mention but with feelings of 
the strongest respect). Mr. Crawford told me that he had 
heard and believed in the truth of General Jackson's contem- 
plated attack upon Mr. Eppes, and advised me to be on my 
guard. The same advice I received from several gentlemen, 
and took it so far as to apply to Walter Jones, Esq., United 
States attorney for the district of Columbia, who kindly fur- 
nished me with the means of- defense. And as this was the 
jirst time in my life, when among ci%dlized men, that I had 
to resort to such means for personal safety, I sincerely hope it 
may be the last in which a rej)resentative of the people, for 
the honest discharge of his duty, will be subjected to a like 
necessity."* 

This is hearsay testimony merely. Publicly and privately 
General Jackson denied the Decatur story; but not, perhaps, 

* Truth's Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor for 1828. Page 
M7. 



1819,] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 571 

BO explicitly as to forbid the idea that it had some founda- 
tion. It is extremely probable that his language in convers- 
ing on the subject in dispute was sucli as to give rise to these 
extravagant tales. Among the manuscript letters of General 
Jackson in ray collection there is one written in 1827 to 
his friend, Colonel George Wilson, the editor of a Nashville 
paper, which authorizes Wilson to contradict the story re- 
specting Decatur and Epps :— 

GENERAL JACKSON TO GEORGE WILSON. 

"Hermitage, January 4th, 1827. 

" Dear Sir : I have just received your note of this day, and give you 
the information required. I was not in Congress Hall during the discus- 
sion of the Seminole question. I visited no one except the President 
and Secretary of War — my oflScial duty required that I should report my- 
self to them. After the debate in the House of Representatives terminated, 
and before I left the city for New York, I visited the House of Represen- 
tatives, and by motion a seat was prepared for me, which I occupied for 
about an hour. After my return from New York I was not in the walls 
of either House of Congress, and not at all in the Senate. 

" I visited the President by special invitation and the Secretary of War 
in his office, both on business. But I dined with no one until the debate 
ended, and then only with the President. I believe this was after Con- 
gress adjourned. As I was informed, there was no debate upon the report 
of the committee in the Senate, and, as you observed, there could be none 
unless on the motion to print, and this, if any, would foreclose any member 
from spealdng to the merits. 

" I received intelligence of the report being made whilst I was in Balti- 
more, on my return, and on the day I dined with the citizens. At nine 
o'clock p. M., I rose from the table by permission of the company, took the 
stage and drove to the city before day. On the morning of the 2d of 
March ■ I got the report, and the strictures on it appeared on the evening 
of the 3d. On the 4th Congress was constitutionally dead. I never heard 
Mr. Eppes speak in pubUc in my life. I never saw him to know him. I 
had no acquaintance with him. I went to the city to demand justice, not 
to oeg favors ; therefore, I visited no member of Congress, and no one but 
the Secretary of War and the President, to whom I was by the regulations 
bound to report; and after I had reported to them, then on special invita- 
tion and business. Yours, respectfully, 

" Andrew Jacksok. 
" Colonel George Wilson." 



572 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1818. 

Congress adjourned without doing anything with Mr. 
Lacock's report, except to order it printed and to lie on the 
table. It would have, doubtless, lain there for ever, undis- 
turbed and forgotten, if General Jackson had thought proper 
to let the subject drop. That, however, was very far from 
hifs intention. He was not given to letting things drop. 

On the 9th of March the General and his suit left Wash- 
ington for Tennessee. Tennessee gave him an overwhelming 
reception. At the distance of several miles from Knoxville 
he was met by two companies of horsemen, and escorted into 
the town, the people of which assembled en masse to wel- 
come him. The inevitable public dinner succeeded. He was 
accompanied on his homeward way by a great cavalcade. 

Nashville surpassed all her previous efforts on this occa- 
sion. We may quote the original account in the Nashville 
Whig : 

" At eleven o'clock, a. m., of the 6th of April, a large assemblage of gen- 
tlemen met the General several miles from town, and escorted him into 
the public square, where he was met by the committee, and the following 
address was read in a very feeling and impressive manner by the Honorable 
John Overton : 

" ' Major General Jackson — ^In behalf of the citizens of Nashville and 
its vicinity, we once more welcome your return to your friends, your family 
and your home. 

" ' Uniformly successful in the field — always victorious over the enemies 
of our country — it was not to be expected that you would wholly escape 
the censure of the envious and the malicious. 

" ' Charges were exhibited against you, and by the representatives of 
the people they were repelled. Their decision is approved by the voice of 
the nation. To those who know you well, who perhaps know you best, 
who had the opportunity of witnessing your conduct — the means of appre- 
ciating your motives — to your neighbors and acquaintances, your military 
career has been as satisfactory as it has been brilliant. The battles you 
have fought, the victories you have won, have procured for our country 
the most lasting benefit, and for yourself a name imperishable. 

" * Your winter's march through the swamps of Florida to the rampartg 
of Barrancas originated in necessity, and resulted in the happiest conse- 
quences. 

" ' Your enemies may calumniate ; demagogues may rail ; some two or 
tliree honorable senators may impute ' mercenary views,' unsupported hy 



1818.] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 573 

evidence ; but by us, by your country, by posterity, sucli insinuations are 
and will be deemed as ridiculous as they are unfounded. 

" ' Your fame, your health, and your happiness are dear to those who 
address you ; may you long Uve to enjoy them.' 

" To which General Jackson made the following reply : 

" ' I tender to you, sir, the gentlemen associated with you, and the citi- 
zens of Nashville and its vicinity, in whose behalf I have been addressed, 
my most sincere and grateful acknowledgements for the favorable senti- 
ments expressed toward me, and the very kind and friendly welcome 
which you have given me upon my return among you. This additional 
testimony of regard and friendship from my fellow-citizens has afforded me 
the most heartfelt gratification, and has made a deep and lasting impression 
on my mind. 

" ' Conscious of having, in every situation in which I have had the honor 
to act, honestly and zealously exerted my best faculties to support the rights 
and protect and advance the interests of my country, to have at any time 
received such an expression of approbation from the citizens of my State — 
those best acquainted with me — many of whom have seen me in the most 
trying events of my life, and have participated with me in all the fatigues, 
privations, and perils of war — would have afforded me high gratification. 
How much increased then must be the pleasure and gratification which I 
derive from this manifestation of your favorable opinion, at a moment when 
my reputation has been assailed in every manner which the most vindica- 
tive feelings could suggest; when an investigation has been instituted, not 
only into my pubhc acts, but my private character. And, without having 
had an opportunity afforded me of being heard in my defense, have I been, 
by a committee of the Senate, at the close of their session, accused of con- 
duct the most disgraceful, and pronounced guilty of having wished to in- 
volve my country in a war from personal, mercenary views ; and this ac- 
cusation unsupported by the least shadow of testimony. 

" ' Here, sir, for the present, will I let this unpleasant subject rest ; my 
conduct having been approved by the President, to whom alone I was re- 
sponsible. I have no fear but my country will do me justice, and that the 
Senate, at their next session, will correct the many untruths contained in 
the vindictive report made by three of its members.' 

" The emotion of the General in dehvering his reply was so visible as 
to communicate its sympathetic effects to all around. It was received with 
cheers and acclamations from every quarter, and amid the shouts of the 
people he was conducted to the Nashville Inn, where a splendid dinner 
■was prepared. Among the invited guests present were their honors John 
Haywood and Thoma.s Emmerson, Judges of the Supreme Court. Ephraim 
H. Foster, Esq., acted as President, and John Sommerville, Esq., as Vice 
President. The following toasts were drunk : 



574 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1819. 

" 1st United America : a star which but lately rose in *the West ; its 
splendor already gives light to the benighted nations of the East. Three 
cheers. 

" 2d. James Monroe, President of the United States : his administration 
has demonstrated that a Chief Magistrate, guided by practical wisdom, can 
silence the tumult of party spirit. Nine cheers. 

" 3d. The Ath July, 1776 : ' for the support of the dec'aration' made on 
that day, ' we mutually pledge to each other our hves, our fortunes, and out 
eacred honor.' Six cheers. 

"4th. T7ie memory of the immortal Washijigton. 'Let expressive silence 
muse his praise 1' 

" 5th. J^ie Constitution of the United States : every experiment tends to 
prove the solid materials of which it is composed. Three cheers. 

" 6th. IJie Heads of Departments. 

" 7th. Tennessee and her sister States : their interest the same, they will 
act in concert in peace and war. Three cheers. 

" 8th. JTie Governor of Tennessee. 

" 9th. Major General Andrew Jackson : he fought for his country only ; 
the arrows of detraction fall harmless at his feet. Nine cheers. 

" 10th. The Seminole War : forced upon us by aggression ; justified by 
necessity ; by its vigorous prosecution we have acquired a strong barrier 
against the inroads of savages and foreign incendiaries. Nine cheers. 

"11th. Arbuthnot and Ambrister: they are not without their friends; 
may all men of similar views meet a similar fate. Silence. 

" 12th. The late treaty with Spain: that which, long protracted, negotia- 
tion could not effect, was quickly accomplished by decision in the Cabinet 
and energy in the field. Six cheers. 

" 13th. John Quincy Adams : the distinguished statesman, the firm pa- 
triot, the able negotiator, the eloquent supporter of his country's rights. 
Six cheers. 

" 14th. De Witt Clinton : the promoter of his country's best interests. 
Three cheers. 

" 15th. The citizens of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore : Tennes- 
Bee will remember with gratitude their hospitality to our distinguished 
guest. Nine cheers. 

" 16th. Colonel Richard M. Johnson : the true representative of his gal- 
lant constituents ; in war a sword for the enemies of his country, in peace 
a shield for private virtue. Three cheers. 

"17th. The 8th January, 1815: The American bosom will 'for ever 
throb with emotion and exultation when the deeds of that day shall be re- 
counted. Nine cheers. 

" 18th. The Navy of the United States: preeminent in brilliant achieve- 
ments. Six cheers. 



1819.] A CHAPTER OF GLORY. 575 

"19th. The Army of the United States: will never be beaten while free- 
mea fill its ranks. Six cheers. 

" 20th. The next Legislature of Tennessee : may it be composed of men 
who have wisdom to understand and honesty to promote the real interests 
of the State. 

"21st. Science and Literature: may they always be cultivated and 
patronized by the American people. 

" 22d. The patriots of South America : palsied be the arm that would 
■wrest from them the standard of liberty for which they have so nobly 
struggled. Six cheers. 

'• 23d. The Fair Sex : lovely and beloved. Nine cheers. 

" The following volunteers were given. 

" By General Jackson. — Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky. The 
revolutionary patriot and distinguished hero. 

" By the Bon. John Overton. — Smyth, Strother, and Tallmadge. The 
erudition of the first, cogent reasoning of the second, and eloquence of the 
latter, furnish elegant commentaries upon some of the plainest principles 
of the laws of war. 

" By Dr. J. C. Bronaugh. — The representatives of the State of Ten- 
nessee in Congress, who have spoken the sentiments of their constituents. 

" By William Williams, Esq. — While the waves of Mississippi flow, the 
laurels of Jackson will flourish. 

" While at table the resolution of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 
(adopted by a vote of fifty-six to twenty-six,) approbatory of General 
Jackson's conduct, was read by Judge Overton." 

Such was the verdict of the people — such the popularity 
of General Jackson in 1819. The verdict, it is true, was not 
unanimous. Voices powerful and eloquent were raised to 
rebuke his proceedings in Florida, and many of the northern 
journals condemned them without reserve. But, as most of 
the censurers belonged to the party opposed to the adminis- 
tration, their censure was attributed to partizan animosity, 
and had no effect in stemming the tide of popular opinion. 

At the next session of Congress, General Jackson for- 
warded to Washington his well-known memorial — a reply to 
the report of the senatorial committee. It was a long narra- 
tive of the General's connection with the affairs of Florida 
from the beginning. Its tone was moderate and respectful. 
The version it gave of the General's proceedings was similar 
to that of Mr. Adams, in his reply to the allegations of Dod 



576 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1820. 

Jose Pizarro. The memorial was presented to the Senate hj 
Mr. Kufiis King, of New York, who moved that it be printed. 
The motion was at first opposed ; but, on Mr. King's assur- 
ing the Senate that further action on the subject wouhl not 
be sought by the friends of General Jackson, the printing of 
the memorial, with the documents accompanying it, was 
ordered. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

GENERAL JACKSON MEETS SILAS DINSMORE. 

In the autumn of this year we find General Jackson again 
among the southern Indians, negotiating another of the long 
series of treaties by which the red man ceded to the stronger 
race his ancient heritage. The only incident of this journey 
that need detain us from more important events is a scene 
that occurred on the treaty ground between General Jackson 
and his old enemy, Silas Dinsmore. An eye-witness of the 
scene (Colonel B. L. C. Wailcs) has kindly written it out from 
the tablets of an excellent memory for these pages. 

" In October, 1820, a treaty was held with the Choctaw 
Indians at Doaks' stand, on the old Natchez trace, at which 
General Jackson and General Hinds of Mississippi were the 
commissioners on the part of the United States. At that 
time I had occasion to visit the north, and traveling by land 
my route took me directly by the treaty ground, at which the 
commissioners had already arrived, and were awaiting the 
assembling of the chiefs and head men of the nation, prepara- 
tory to the negotiation, the object of which was the acquisi- 
tion of Indian territory. 

" Among the visitors who were attracted thither to wit- 
ness the novel spectacle of Indian life and manners was Mr. 
Stockton, a distinguished young lawyer recently from New 
Jersey, and subsequently one of the judges of Mississippi. 
On arriving with my party, at the close of the day, within 



1818.] JACKSON MEETS SILAS DINSMOEE. 577 

one day's stage of the treaty ground, I met my old acquaint- 
ance, Colonel Silas Dinsmore, then residing at St. Stephens, 
Alabama, and who intersected our route at the same time 
that we arrived. There, too, we were met by Mr. Stockton 
and his party, returning to Natchez, after having spent some 
days in the enjoyment of the intercourse and hospitality of 
the commissioners. 

" To render intelligible the subsequent part of ttiis narra- 
tive to those unacquainted with the history and character of 
Mr. Dinsmore, it may be necessary to state that he was a 
gentleman of highly cultivated mind, of much experience and 
knowledge of the world, a man of unbounded wit, and pos- 
sessing extraordinary conversational powers, which rendered 
him the life of every convivial party, of which he was on all 
occasions of social intercourse the center and attraction. 

" His passion for disputation and argument, which gave 
free scope to his talent for humor and repartee, would carry him 
far to provoke at any time an intellectual tournament with 
any ' foeman worthy of his steel,' and it mattered little with 
him for the time on which side of a question he engaged, pro- 
vided he could draw out all the powers of his competitor, and 
put him upon his metal. And thus it happened, when after 
the evening meal the assembled party engaged in conversation, 
it soon narrowed down, as if by some mental attraction, into 
an animated discussion between the two most cultivated and 
intellectual of the party, Dinsmore and Stockton ; the others 
highly interested, but nearly silent listeners on the occasion. 
Stockton was impetuous and fiery — Dinsmore cool and wary; 
and, withal, having the advantage of knowing Stockton well 
by character, whilst he was himself unknown. 

" The subject of the approaching treaty naturally became 
the topic upon which the conversation turned, and, observing 
the enthusiasm and excitability of Mr. Stockton, he drew him 
on adroitly into a very earnest and almost angry controversy, 
much to the covert amusement of those who knew Dinsmore 
well, and saw his drift ; and when, in the course of disputa- 
tion, he coolly and provokingly asserted* that ' the policy of 
VOL. i: — 37 



578 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1820. 

our government towards the Indian tribes was a harsh oiie, 
the patience of his opponent was exhausted, and he could 
scarcely find hounds for his petulance. With his curiosity 
greatly excited as to this plain-looking old gentleman, under 
whose homely garb of a backwoods traveler he little expected 
to find so much knowledge and intellectual adroitness, he pri- 
vately withdrew the host and anxiously inquired who this 
extraordinary gentleman might be. 

" ' Why, sir,' he replied, in surprise, ' do you not know 
Colonel Dinsmore ? Sir, he was the former agent of the 
Choctaws, a great favorite, and of unbounded influence with 
them.' 

" This was enough. A new light broke upon him, and, 
as will be seen in the sequel, he acted upon the erroneous im 
pression of the moment. 

" Next morning Mr. Stockton pursued his route towards 
Natchez. Our party, increased by the company of Mr. Dins- 
more, took our way towards the treaty ground, where we 
arrived early in the afternoon, the latter little conscious of 
the peril in which he had unwittingly involved himself. 

"It is unnecessary to detail the cause of my stopping 
there, further than that it was occasioned by a letter from 
my friend, Colonel McKee, the agent of the Choctaws, then 
attending the commissioners, received a few days before 
I left home, which had reference to some supposed knowl- 
edge I had acquired of the geography of the country, of 
which the commissioners, I was informed, wished to avail 
themselves. 

" On our arrival, an invitation was promptly given to us 
to remain some time, and take a part in the accommodations 
of the camp and table of the commissioners. 

" Half an hour later I was accosted by General Hinds, 
and requested to take a walk with him. After strolling 
leisurely and in silence through the grove, beyond the camp, 
and out of hearing of the crowd, he paused and asked me if I 
knew Colonel Dinsmore. I replied that I had known him 
from my boyhood. ♦ 



1820.] JACKSON MEETS SILAS DINSMORE. 579 

" 'Then, sir/ said he, somewhat abruptly and with much 
earnestness, ' luhat brings him here V 

" ' I do not know,' I rejoined ; ' he has not told me, but 
I can give a conjecture. Two years since,' I continued, ' a 
treaty was held near the trading-house at Old Fort Confed- 
eration, at which I acted as secretary to the commissioners. 
At that treaty Colonel Dinsmore was present, and it was 
generally understood, and was the subject of frequent conver- 
sations, that, in the event of making a cession of land to the 
United States, which, however, the nation refused to do, a 
reservation was to be made to Colonel Dinsmore, to indem- 
nify him for the destruction of some of his stock and other 
property, many years before, at Mount Dexter, by some tur- 
bulent young Choctaws, during his absence from the agency ; 
and that the principal chiefs always intended to compensate 
him in this way. I presume he is here at this time with the 
expectation that the long standing pledge of the chiefs will 
now be redeemed, and that they will reserve a tract of land 
for him in the treaty which you are about to make.' 

" At this time I could not divine why I was thus interro- 
gated. I noticed, however, that my explanation seemed to 
be highly satisfactory to General Hinds, and to relieve him 
from some brooding anxiety. We returned to the camp, and 
General Hinds' stroll was extended in an opposite direction, 
his companion on this occasion being General Jackson ; the 
two evidently engaged in an earnest conversation. 

" All the mystery which enveloped these movements was 
subsequently explained, and I was much gratified to learn 
that my explanation to General Hinds had enabled him to 
interpose effectually, and to prevent Mr. Dinsmore from being 
placed under personal restraint, of which, although he may 
never have known it, he stood in great peril. 

"It appeared, as I afterwards learned, that one of our 
party, unknown to the rest, and himself unconscious of the 
contents of the missive, had been the bearer of a letter from 
Mr. Stockton to General Jackson ; that, upon learning who 
Colonel Dinsmore was, and adverting to the subject of their 



580 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1820. 

controversy, he, Stockton, had jumped to the conclusion that 
Dinsmore was really disaffected towards the government, and 
that he was proceeding to the treaty gi'ound to defeat by his 
great influence the wishes of the commissioners ; and, under 
this persuasion, in his intemperate zeal, Mr. Stockton hastily 
penned the letter, guarding General Jackson against Mr. 
Dinsmore's interference with the Indians. 

" Thus warned, with the recollection also of the old con- 
troversy and correspondence, and supposing that Dinsmore 
might not feel personally friendly to him, the fiery disposi- 
tion of the General was naturally aroused. The fortuitous 
explanation, however, which I was enabled to give to General 
Hinds had the effect of allaying his kindling wrath, and the 
gathering storm passed away. That Colonel Dinsmore, then 
in straightened and embarrassed circumstances, should enter- 
tain a wish, or go so far to defeat or prevent the negotiation 
of a treaty, upon the very success of which rested his only 
hope of obtaining the long promised reservation of land, now 
so essential to him, was too preposterous for belief. 

" The evening passed away ; the following day wore on, 
and no sign of recognition was observed to pass between the 
General and his unwelcome guest, as they passed and repassed 
through and about the camp and among the Indians and 
whites who thronged the grounds, and pressed around them 
with friendly greetings and deferential respect. Late in the 
afternoon, after the business of the day was over, and the 
throng had dispersed in groups to their different quarters, 
several yet lingering about the camp were seated on a long 
bench in front of the commissioners tent, engaged in a light, 
free conversation, in which all seemed alternately to partici- 
pate. These were Mr. Dinsmore, Colonel McKee, General 
Jackson, the principal orator and chief, Poosh-ma-ta-ha, and 
myself ; perhaps one or two more, including an interpreter. 

" The conversation commenced with inquiries of me by the 
old chief after some friends with whom, several years previously, 
he had spent some months in the woods. Some nearly for- 
gotten and ludicrous incidents of the period, which he was 



1820.] JACKSON MEETS SILAS DINSMORE. 58L 

rehearsing in a spirit of pleasantry and badinage, soon led all 
to participate freely in the conversation, and all restraint 
and conventionalism seemed for the time broken down. 

" This was the juncture chosen by Mr. Dinsmore to re- 
move the unnatural reserve and distance so far maintained 
between himself and the General, and, with his usual tact 
and address, he led the conversation round to a more inter- 
esting and absorbing subject, that of the approaching session 
of Congress, at which the great Missouri question was to be 
fully debated for the first time; and having secured a marked 
attention from all, as he commented upon this momentous 
controversy, he turned to General Jackson and inquired if, 
when the treaty was concluded, he did not intend to repair 
to the seat of government and be present at the discussion. 
It was a friendly overture and adroitly made — but it failed. 
Turning full upon him, and assuming all that sternness of 
manner for which he was so distinguished, and with a pause 
sufficient to give full emphasis to his words, the General 
replied — 

" ' No, sir ; I never go where I have no business.' 

" This closed the conversation. One by one the party 
dropped off, and directly the bench was entirely vacated. 

" What further passed between them during the pendency 
of the treaty I know not. On the morrow I had resumed 
my journey, and was wending my way to the North. I can 
only add, that a treaty was effected, lands were ceded to 
the government ; but, in the instrument which conveyed 
them, there was found no clause reserving land for Silas 
Dinsmore." 

While General Jackson was absent from home on the 
busmess of this treaty, events occurred which changed the 
current of his life, and gave him new occupation. 



582 LIFE OF ANDREW JAOKSON. [1820. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

GENERAL JACKSON TAKES LEAVE OF THE ARMY. 

Florida is still the subject of our story. The people of 
the United States, when they read the announcement that 
Mr. Adams and the Spanish minister had signed the treaty 
of cession on the 22d of February, 1819, indulged the belief 
that they had at once acquired and done with Florida. They 
were destined to disappointment. If the readers of these pages 
have cherished a similar expectation, they also will discover 
that Florida is a subject not so easily disposed of. 

The eclat which accrued to the administration of Mr. 
Monroe from the conclusion of the treaty was of short dura- 
tion. It soon appeared that the Spanish government was in 
no haste to ratify the treaty. The Spanish government thought 
proper to take oifense at the government of the United States 
on account of the undeniable sympathy felt by the people of 
the United States for the revolted provinces of Spain in South 
America. General Sir Gregor McGregor, as we read in many 
paragraphs of this year, had returned from looking after his 
estates in England ; returned, too, in " the ship Hero, of 
eighteen guns," and was refitting at New Providence. Soon 
after we hear of Commander Aury again, who sailed south- 
ward with a considerable fleet, and was disastrously wrecked 
on some rock-bound coast. Texas, too, continued to be in a 
state of revolt, and there were not wanting American adven- 
turers to join in the long strife between Mexico and the mother 
country. Poor, proud old Spain, seeing her magnificent Amei i- 
can empire all falling to pieces and slipping through her par- 
alytic fingers, was in no ceding humor, and could not bring 
herself deliberately to let go her feeble hold upon Florida. It 
is probable, too, that the administration did not sufficiently 
conceal its extreme desire for the ratification of the treaty. 



1820.] LEAVES THE ARMY. 583 

Spaiu had, for a moment, a certain advantage over us, and 
put on airs accordingly. 

For some months no expknation was vouchsafed respect- 
ing the dehxy of the Spanisli government to ratify. Then it 
was given out that a special envoy would be sent to the 
United States to talk the matter all over again, and make 
known certain new causes of compkiint ; an announcement 
wliich created in the United States the most profound dis- 
gust. Its eifects upon a well known Major General, whose 
mind had been fully made up long before upon the subject of 
"Spanish treachery," can be imagined. "I deprecate," ho 
wrote to Senator Eaton, December 28th, 1819, " tlie idea of 
waiting longer for an explanation from unfaithful Spain. Can 
we receive a minister from that power, under present circum- 
stances, without compromitting in some degree our national 
character ? Under the bad faith of Spain, as I believe, the 
only good explanation that can be given is/rom the mouth of 
American cannon."'-' 

In the nick of time, however, (October, 1820), just as the 
patience even of Mr. Monroe was beginning to be exhausted, 
and General Jackson was expecting soon to have the pleasure 
of making another raid into Florida, a change occurred in the 
Spanish ministry, and the treaty was ratified. 

Another difficulty arose. The treaty had to be rati- 
fied again by the government of the United States, the pre- 
vious ratification having been annulled by the delay. The 
opposition in Congress, headed by Mr. Clay, attacked one of 
the articles of the treaty, and strove to prevent its ratifica- 
tion. The price to be paid for Florida was, first, five millions 
of dollars ; secondly, the relinquishment on the part of the 
United States of its old claim to Texas — a claim which, Mr. 
Monroe himself had said, was as good as that by which the 
United States held the island of New Orleans. Mr. Clay did 
not fail tc remind the President of that opinion, as expressed 
by him in a diplomatic note to a Spanish minister at Paris in 
1805. Mr. Clay urged, also, that Texas was worth a dozen 

* Autograph Collection of Edward M. Thomas, Esq., Washington, D. C. 



S84 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1820. 

Floridas. Besides — ^Florida must come to us, sooner or later. 
" The ripened fruit will not more surely fall. Florida is in- 
closed between Georgia and Alabama, and can not escape. 
Texas may." 

At length, however, on the 22d of February, 1821, just 
two years after the first signing of the treaty by Mr. Adams 
and Don Luis de Onis, it was ratified a second time by the 
government of the United States. In the Senate there were 
but four voices against it. In the House thirty members 
voted for Mr. Clay's condemnatory resolutions. 

Whether or not General Jackson approved the surrender 
of Texas at this time became, sixteen years after, a subject 
of hot dispute. That he approved it is now beyond question. 
In 1820, Mr. Monroe wrote to General Jackson in explanation 
of the reasons which had induced him to consent to the relin- 
quishment of Texas. " Having long known," wrote the 
President, " the repugnance with which the eastern portion 
of our Union, or rather some of those who have enjoyed its 
confidence (for I do not think that the people themselves 
have any interest or wish of that kind), have seen its aggran- 
dizement to the West and South, I have been decidedly of 
opinion that we ought to be content with Florida for the pre- 
sent, and until the public opinion in that quarter shall be 
reconciled to any further change. I mention these circum- 
stances to show you that our difliculties are not with Spain 
alone, but are likewise internal, proceeding from various 
causes, which certain men are prompt to seize and turn to the 
account of their own ambitious views."* 

To this letter General Jackson replied very explicitly : 

GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 

" Hermitage, near Nashville, ) 
"June 20, 1820. ) 

" Dear Sir : I returned from my tour to the south and southeast on 
the evening of the 18th instant, when I received your very friendly and 
interesting letter of the 23d of May last, which I have read with interest 
ttod attention. On its perusal and consideration I have determined to re- 
* Benton's Thirty Years, L, 15. 



1820.] LEAVES THE ARMY. 585 

main in service until the situation of Europe fully develops itself, and our 
aflfairs with Spain are brought to a final close. 

" Although retirement has been and still is the first object of my wishes, 
yet so long as it is believed that my military service may conduce to the 
benefit of my country, in any way, my exertions belong to her. 1 have 
hitherto made, and it is still my duty as a patriot to make, my private in- 
terests and views subservient to my country's good. I have, therefore, 
upon due consideration and reflection on the subject matter of your inter- 
esting letter, resolved not to retire from service so long as my continuing 
may promote the welfare, safety and happiness of our country. I am well 
aware, as soon as you believe the situation of our affairs will permit of my 
retiring without injury to our country, you will notify me thereofj and per- 
mit me to retire. Until then, my private wishes and feelings must bend 
to what it may be conceived will promote the public good. 

" The view you have taken of the conduct pursued by our government 
relative to South America, in my opinion, has been both just and proper, 
and will be approved by nine-tenths of the nation. It is true, it has been 
attempted to be wielded by certain demagogues to the injury of the ad- 
ministration, but, like all other base attempts, has recoiled on its authors ; 
and I am clearly of your opinion that, for the present, we ought to be con- 
tent with the Floridas — fortify them, concentrate our population, confine 
our frontier to proper limits, until our country, to those limits, is filled with 
a dense population. It is the denseness of our population that gives 
strength and security to our frontier With the Floridas in our possession, 
our fortifications completed, Orleans, the great emporium of the West, is 
secure. The Floridas in possession of a foreign power, you ean be invaded, 
your fortifications turned, the Mississippi reached, and the lower country re- 
duced. From Texas an invading enemy will never attempt such an enter- 
prise ; if he does, notwithstanding all that has been said and asserted on 
the floor of Congress on this subject, I will vouch that the invader will pay 
for his temerity. 

" Present Mrs. Jackson and myself to Mrs. Monroe and your daughters 
and Mr. Gouverneur affectionately, and receive for yourself our best wishes 
for your happiness through this life, and that of your amiable family ; and 
beUeve me to be, with high respect and esteem, your most obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson."* 

When, in the year 1836, Texas had become a leading 
national topic, it was asserted by one party in the House 
of Kepresentatives and denied by another, that General Jack- 
Bon had approved the treaty of 1819. An exciting scene 

♦Published by Mr. Gouvemeur, from the papers of Mr. Monroe, in 1836. 



586 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1820. 

occurred in the House, in which Mr. John Quincy Adama 
acted a conspicuous part, and made a statement which brought 
him into conflict with General Jackson on a question of — 
memory. The story has been amusingly told by an eye- 
witness : 

" Mr. Adams continued his defense. ' At that time,' said 
he, ' General Jackson was in this city on exciting business 
connected with the Seminole war ; and, after the treaty had 
been concluded, and only wanted the signatures of the con- 
tracting parties, the then President of the United States di- 
rected me to call on General Jackson, in my official capacity 
as Secretary of State, and obtain his opinion in reference to 
boundaries. I did call. General Jackson, sir, was at that 
time holding his quarters in the hotel at the other end of the 
avenue, now kept by Mr. Azariah Fuller, but then under the 
management of Jonathan McCarty. The day was exceedingly 
warm, and, on entering General Jackson's parlor, I found him 
much exhausted by excitement, and the intensity of the 
weather. I made known to him the object of my visit ; when 
he replied that I would greatly oblige him if I would excuse 
him from looking into the matter then. " Leave the papers 
with me, sir, till to-moiTow, or the next day, and I will ex- 
amine them." I did leave them, su* ; and the next day called 
for the hero's oj)inion and decision. Sir, I recollect the oc- 
currence perfectly well ; General Jackson was still unwell ; 
and the papers with an accompanying map, were spread be- 
fore him. With his cane, sir, he pointed to the boundaries, 
as they had been agreed upon by the parties ; and, sir, with a 
very emphatic expression, which I need not repeat, he affirmed 
them.' 

" This debate, while yet warm from the hands of the re- 
porters, reached General Jackson ; and was at once pressed 
upon his attention. Its contradiction and refutation were 
deemed matters of paramount importance. The old soldier 
did not hesitate long to act in the matter, and speedily there 
appeared in the Globe newspaper a letter, signed Andrew 
Jackson, denying, in unqualified and unconditional terms. 



1820.] LEAVES THE ARMY. 587 

every thing that Mr. Adams had uttered. He denied having 
been in Washington at the time Mr. Adams designatcid ; but 
afterwards, being convinced that he was in error, in this fact 
only he corrected himself, but denied most positively that he 
had seen the Florida treaty, or Mr. Adams, at the time of its 
negotiation, or that he had had the remotest agency or connec- 
tion with the transaction, 

" Mr, Adams responded and appealed to his diary, where 
every thing was set forthwith the utmost jirecision and accu- 
racy. The year, day of the month, and of the week, and the 
very hour of the day, all were ftiithfully recorded. 

" Whilst this controversy was pending, I ciilled at the 
presidential mansion one afternoon, when General Jackson, 
strange to say, happened to be alone. He said that he was 
very glad to see me, because he would like to hear from one 
who had an opportunity of seeing more of the press than he 
saw what was the exact state of public opinion in regard to 
the controversy, 

" ' As far as I am capable of judging, Mr, President,' 
I replied, ' the people appear to be unanimous in the opin- 
ion that there is a misunderstanding, a misapprehension, 
between you and Mr, Adams ; for no one imagines for a 
moment that either of you would misrepresent facts ! Mr. 
Adams is a man of infinite method ; he is generally accurate, 
and, in this instance, it appears that he is sustained by his 
diary.' 

" ' His diary ! don't tell me any thing more about his 
diary ! Sir, that diary comes up on all occasions — one would 
think that its pages were as immutable as the laws of the 
Medes and Persians ! Sir, that diary will be the death of 
me ! I wonder if James Monroe kept a diary ! If he did, it 
is to be hoped that it will be looked to, to see if it contains 
any thing about this Adams and De Onis treaty. Sir, I did 
not see it ; I was not consulted about it.' 

"The old hero was exceedingly vehement, and was pro- 
ceeding to descant with especial violence, when he was in* 



588 LIFE OF ANDEEW JACKSON. [1820. 

temipted by the entrance of Mr. Secretary Woodbury, and I 
never heard another word about the matter."* 

Now, Mr. Adams, with all his method, was laboring un- 
der an error of some kind. The treaty was signed on the 
22d of February, 1819, the day of the grand ball in New 
York, attended by General Jackson, The Greneral, as we 
learn from the formal announcements of the National Intelli- 
gencer , left Washington on the 11th of February, and returned 
on the 2d of March. And when was the weather known to be 
" exceedingly warm" in Washington during the early days of 
February ? Who can reconcile these contradictions ? 

A few days before the final ratification of the Spanish 
treaty, the reelection of Mr. Monroe was formally announced. 
There had been scarcely the show of opposition to him. 
New Hampshire gave one electoral vote to Mr. Adams, and Mr. 
Monroe received all the rest. Mr. Tompkins was reelected 
to the vice-presidency with almost equal unanimity.f 

The reasons of this singular acquiescence in the reelection 
of these gentlemen were three in number. The Federal party 
had ceased to exist. The leading aspirants to the presidency 

* Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams. By an Old Colony man. 
Quoted in Mr. Seward's Life of John Quincy Adama, p. 277. 

f At Philadelphia there was a slight show of opposition to Mr. Monroe's re- 
election. Nik^s Register contains this paragraph : " An attempt is making in 
Philadelphia to get up what its projectors call ' an Anti- Slavery ticket,^ for 
electors of President and Vice-President of the United States. A large meet- 
ing was held on Saturday last, at which aij opposition ticket was agreed upon, 
and a committee of correspondence, etc., appointed to promote its success. From 
Bome accounts which we see of this meeting thei-e was a considerable degree of 
warmth. "What the result of this business will be we cannot foretell ; but it is 
to be expected the ticket favorable to the reelection of Messrs. Monroe and Tomp- 
kins will succeed by a very large majority notwithstanding. Almost every man 
in Pennsylvania is opposed to negro slavery ; and at another election may cause 
the great weight of the State to be thrown in favor of a candidate for the presi- 
dency from a non-slaveholding State. But if we might venture an opinion, we 
Bhould so far presume on the liberality of our southern friends as to suppose that, 
when Mr. Monroe's second term of service -has expired, they will freely support 
a gentleman from a different section as his successor. A change in this respect 
■eems to bo dictated by a sound policy, and will do much in the work of con 
•iliation." 



1820.] LEAVES THE ABMY. 589 

^ere members of the cabinet, and could not in honor opposo 
their chief. All the previous Presidents, except John Adams, 
having served two terms, it had come to be the understanding 
with all parties that two terms was the proper, the regular 
period of service in the presidency. Not to be elected to a 
second term would have been esteemed a condemnation of 
the President's conduct in the first. Thus, in the early po- 
litical writings, we frequently find the defeat of Mr. John 
Adams, in 1800, spoken of as an " interruption" of his ad- 
ministration. It was regarded as a disgrace as well as a defeat. 
The President was supposed to have been tried and found 
wanting. 

On the last day but two of the session. Congress passed 
an act for the reception and provisional government of Florida. 
By this act it was ordained that " until the end of the first 
session of the next Congress, unless provision for the tem- 
porary government of Florida be sooner made by Congress, 
all the military, civil, and judicial powers exercised by the 
officers of the existing government of the same, shall be vested 
in such person or persons, and shall be exercised in such man- 
ner as the President of the United States shall direct, for the 
maintenance of the inhabitants in the free enjoyment of their 
property, liberty, and religion." y 

It had long been the intention of General Jackson to re- / • 
sign his commission in the army as soon as the difierence with 
Spain should have been brought to a peaceful conclusion. 
An important reduction in the army, long contemplated, was 
effected in the spring of 1821, and left the General without 
an adequate command.* 

* General Jackson was utterly opposed to this reduction of the army. A Mr. 
Humphrey, of New York, describes a letter received by his brother from General 
Jackson : " The letter alluded to was written about the time when the last re- 
duction of the army took place : it is at my command, and although I do not feel 
justified in placing it before the public, I will mention some of the most striking 
features it presents. Among other expressions he says, in express terms — ' tho 

government ought to be d d — instead of reducing the army in a republic like 

this, it should be increased tenfold.' He ridicules the idea of depending upon om- 
militia, speaks of reducing them to a proper state of subordination as an impos- 



590 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

• Mr. Monroe promptly appointed him to the Governorship 
of Florida, as Avell as to the office of commissioner to receive 
the province from the hands of the Spanish officials. The 
salary assigned the Governor was five thousand dollars. The 
President appointed at the same time ten other officeis to 
assist the Governor in administering the affiiirs of the prov- 
ince, namely, two judges, two district-attorneys, two secre- 
taries, three collectors, and a marshal ; officers which, as Mrs. 
Jackson will soon inform us, the General himself expected to 
have the pleasure of appointing. Colonel James Grant 
Forbes, the marshal appointed by the President, was dis- 
patched to Havana in the sloop-of-war Hornet, to receive 
from the Governor General of Cuba and convey to the Gov- 
ernor of Florida the requisite orders for the surrender of the 
province and its forts to the American commissioner. By 
the terms of the treaty, the province was to be given up six 
months after the final ratification of the treaty, "or sooner, 
if possible." The Spanish garrisons were to be conveyed to 
Cuba at the expense of the United States. 

General Jackson accepted the appointment. His mode 
of bidding farewell to the army was among the most peculiar 
of his public acts. At first he caused an address to be 
prepaz-ed, which contained nothing very extraordinary. It 
was in the terms following : 



" Headquarters, Division of the South, 
"MONTPELIER, May 31, 1821. 



" This day, officers and soldiers, closes my military functions, and, con- 
sequently, dissolves the military connection which has hitherto existed be- 
tween you and myself, as the Commander of the Southern Division of the 
army of the United States. Many of us have passed together days of toil 
and nights of vigilance. Together we have seen the termination of one 

gibility, and of their utter inefiBciency in cases of emergency I He dilates on the 
extent of our frontier, and the extreme impropriety of leaving our remote posts 
with the inadequate garrisons to which they are necessarily reduced in conse- 
quence of the diminution of the army. In fact, the general tenor of the letter ia 
that of decided aud bitter animadversion upon the measures pursued by the ge* 
2ral govertment. — New Turk American, October, 1828. 



1821.] LEAVES THE ARMY. 591 

British and two Indian wars, in which we have encountered Aatigues, pri- 
vations and dangers. Attachments and friendships formed by associations 
of this kind are the most durable, and my feehngs will not permit me, in 
retiring from military command, to take a silent leave of my companions 
in arms. 

" Justice to you and to my own feelings requires that I should place 
before our common country the testimony of my approbation of your mili- 
tary conduct, and the expression of my individual regard. Under the 
present organization for the reduction of the army, agreeably to the act of 
Congress, many valuable officers who have served with me have been sud- 
denly deprived of the profession which they had embraced, and thrown 
upon the world. But let this be your consolation, that the gratitude of 
your country still cherishes you as her defenders and deliverers, while wis- 
dom condemns the hasty and ill-timed policy which has occasioned your 
disbandonment ; and that, too, while security was yet to be given to our 
extensive frontier, by the erection of the necessary fortifications for its 
defense, greatly extended as that frontier has been by the recent acquisi- 
tions of the Floridas. But you, fellow-soldiers, have that which can not 
be taken from you — the consciousness of having done your duty, and with 
your brother officers who are retained, of having defended the American 
eagle wherever it was endangered. 

" To you, my brother officers, who are retained in the service of your 
country, permit me to recommend the cultivation of that harmony and 
friendsliip towards each other which will render you a band of brothers. 
It is your duty so to conduct yourselves on all occasions as that your ene- 
mies shall have no just cause for censure. It ought to be borne in mind 
that every captain should be to his company as a father, and should treat 
it as his family — as his children. Continue, then, as heretofore, when 
under my command, to watch over it with a father's tenderness and care. 
Treat them like children, admonish them, and if, unhappily, admonition 
will not have the desired effect — coercion must. The want of discipline 
and order will inevitably produce a spirit of insubordination, as destructive 
to an army as cowardice, and will as certainly lead to disaster and disgrace 
in the hour of battle : this, as you regard your military reputation and your 
country's good, you must prevent. Imploring from heaven a blessing upon 
you aU, I bid you an affectionate adieu. 

" Andrew Jackson, 

" Major-General, Commanding the Division of the South." 

Such was the farewell address which General Jackson 
designed to promulgate, and which he did promulgate. But 
before he gave it publicity an event occurred which induced 
him to append to it a " Note." This unique appendage ex- 



592 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

plains itself. I need not remind the reader tliat the " Jacob 
Brown" referred to in the opening paragi-aph was Major Gen- 
eral Brown, Commander-in-Chief, under the President, of the 
armies of the United States. 

" Note. — My official duties having prevented the promulgation of this 
order until this time, an opportunity has been afforded of seeing the ' Gen- 
eral order,' dated ' Headquarters of the army of the United States, Wash- 
ington City, June 1st, 1821,' signed 'Jacob Brown.' Justice to the officers 
of the southern division, as well as to myself, compels me to offer some re- 
marks upon the following extract from that order. 

" ' The prevalence of desertion has been an evil of serious magnitude, 
and it does not appear to be justified by a view of the past condition of the 
military establishment. All research in this field for its causes has been 
unsatisfactory. The character of the military profession is honorable ; the 
soldier is as well provided with comforts as the citizen in common life, and 
his occupation is neither more offensive nor more laborious. There are 
restless, discontented spirits in every sphere of life which no indulgence nor 
kindness can bind to stability ; but these examples do not exist in sufficient 
number to justify the range desertion has taken in the army. The evil must 
be referred, in a degree, to an undue severity, or to the absence of sys- 
tem in the conduct of officers towards their men. The officer is the deposi- 
tory of the rights of the soldier, and the obligation of his office, as well aa 
the laws of honor and humanity, claim a faithful execution of the trust. 
When the soldier ceases to regard the officer as his protector, the authority 
with which the law invests the latter loses its efficacy in his estimation. 
The surest remedy for the evil of desertion is contained in a rigid and steady 
discipline. To be salutary it must possess both these qualities; but no vio- 
lation of law can be deemed essential to its enforcement. Its effect upon 
the soldier becomes impaired the moment he feels that the system which 
governs him is fluctuating in its course, or that it violates the principles 
upon which it is founded. The certainty of laws constitutes their principal 
efficacy, and however severe restrictions may be, they are obeyed so long 
as they are dispensed by the hand of justice, and not of oppression.' 

" This censure is too general to be just. The time at which it is made, 
and the source whence it comes, have astonished every generous soldier. 

" The part which attributes ' in a degree to an undue severity, or to the 
absence of system in the conduct of officers towards their men,' the unex- 
ampled prevalence of desertion in our army, so far as it relates to the divi- 
sion of the south, I do unhesitatingly say is not founded on fact. It is due 
to candor and truth to attribute this evil to its real cause. This will be 
found to exist in the want of adequate punishment for the crime of deser- 
tion. That prescribed by law, in a state of peace, transcends the offense, 



1821.] LEAVES THE ARMY. 593 

and no other certain punishment is authorized. While this is the case 
desertion will increase, let the conduct of the officers towards their men be 
ever so lenient. It is a well known fact that more desertions have taken 
place at recruiting rendezvous than have occurred in the regiments and at 
no recruiting rendezvous at the division of the south has there been, as far 
as I am informed, any punishment inflicted upon soldiers excepting by the 
civil authority. It is well known that, in many instances, the soldier has 
found it a source of speculation to go from rendezvous to rendezvous en- 
listing, receiving the bounty and deserting. In some instances, this has 
been practiced from Boston to New Orleans. 

" The punishment at present inflicted for desertion is hard labor with 
the ball and chain; but this bears more heavily upon the faitliful soldier, 
who is compelled to guard the convict under a hot sun, with all his accou- 
terments on, than it does upon him whom it is intended to punish. Every 
desertion, therefore, but adds to the duties and increases the fatigues of the 
faithful and trusty soldier. And suppose the convict will not labor, by what 
means is he to be coerced ? Stripes and lashes are prohibited ; there are no 
dungeons ; guard-houses are pleasant places for the lazy and worthless sol- 
dier, who sleeps and snores, while the faithful sentinel is at his post on his 
nightly watch, guarding him. Is not this, with the general pardons, so fre- 
quently extended by the orders of the President, calculated to cause the 
best soldiers, who are oppressed with double duty in guarding the worst, 
to meditate desertion also ? 

" The government must annex an adequate and certain punishment for 
the crime of desertion, and experience compels me to say it, although at 
variance with the more refined and sensitive feelings of the day, must re- 
store corporal punishment in the regulations for the government of the army, 
as it formerly existed, and as it now exists in the navy, or desertion and 
insubordination will still increase. .But it is said to be dishonorable. Why 
should it be more so in the arm.y than in the navy ? Is it more dishonor- 
able to receive twenty-five stripes and be ordered to immediate duty than 
to be marched with chains for months and years, an object of disgust to 
every freeman who sees him, more properly an appendage of ancient des- 
potism than any thing belonging to Republican institutions ? Let the de- 
serter, in time of peace, for the first offense receive thirty-nine stripes, for 
the second double that number, and for the third let him feel the highest 
penalty of the law. I will venture to say that a few examples Avill put an 
end to that extraordinary frequency which at present prevails, and the cause 
of which has been so unjustly imputed ' to an undue severity, or to the ab- 
sence of system in the conduct of officers towards their men.' 

" I sincerely regret the cause which has given rise to these remarks, but 
the reputation of those officers, in common w'th whom I have encountered 
BO many toils and dangers, is dear to me, and I can not remain silent when 
VOL. n— : 8 



594 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

I perceive an unjust attempt to tarnish their well-earned fame, let the mo- 
tives which dictated the objectionable passage in the order be what they 
may. These remarks, my brother officers, flow from a pure source of jus- 
tice to you. Popularity I have never bought. I have pursued the course 
which I deemed right, and have done justice to all according to my best 
judgment ; this, I trust, I have rendered to you all during the time I had 
the honor to command you. And that happiness may attend you all, and 
that your country may duly appreciate your worth as her citizen soldiers, 
Bball be my last and most sincere prayer. 

" Andrew Jackson. 

"21st July, 1S21." 

This address was issued at Montpelier, Alabama, where 
General Jackson had been ordered to await the arrival of 
Colonel Forbes from Havana. He reached Montpelier on 
the 30th of April. We must return to note an incident or 
two of his journey thither. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE GOVERNOR TAKES POSSESSION. 

\ General Jackson left home on the 18th of April, accom- 
panied by Mrs. Jackson and " the two Andrews," as the Gen- 
eral was wont to style his adopted son, and his nephew, Andrew 
Jackson Donelson. 

Of the passage down the river to New Orleans, and the 
honors paid the General at that city, Mrs. Jackson shall sjjeak 
to us. The reader will be glad of the opportunity to become 
more intimately acquainted with the lady whom General Jack- 
son correctly "styled " the stay and solace of his life." The 
letters written by Mrs. Jackson on this journey to Florida 
and during her brief residence at Pensacola were addressed to 
one of her dearest fiiends at Nashville, the wife of a captain 
in the army of the United States, an officer high in the con- 
fidence of General Jackson. To this lady the reader is in- 
debted for the perusal of these quaint and heart-felt epistles. 



1821.] FLORIDAOURS. 595 

which express, in language not always correct, sentiments 
which will find a responsive chord in many hearts. 

MRS, JACKSON TO MRS. ELIZA KINGSLET. 

"City of New Orleans, April the 27th, 1821. 

" My Dear Mrs. Kingsley : Wc arrived safe in this port within eight 
days from Nashville. My health has somewhat improved in this warm 
climate. We had not a very pleasant passage thither, owing to so many 
passengers, nearly two hun(ired. more than half negroes ; but how thank- 
ful should we be to our Heavenly Father. In so many instances have I 
had cause to praise his holy name. There is not an hour of our lives but 
we are exposed to danger on this river. bow can I describe to you my 
feehngs when that sad and melancholy news reached us of the Robertson 
steamboat. how dreadful! Poor Sally McConnel! She traveled far 
to find a watery grave. Lord, thy will be done in all thy appoint- 
ments. 

" I will give you a faint description of this place. It reminds me of 
those words in Revelations : ' Great Babylon is come up before me.' Oh, 
the wickedness, the idolatry of this place I unspeakable the riches and 
splendor. 

" We were met at the Natches and conducted to this place. The house 
and furniture is so splendid I can't pretend a description. The attention 
and honors paid to the General far excel a recital by my pen. They con- 
ducted him to the Grand Theater ; his box was decorated with elegant 
hangings. At his appearance the theater rang with loud acclamations, 
Vive Jackson. Songs of praise were sung by ladies, and in the midst 
they crowned him with a crown of laurel. The Lord has promised his 
humble followers a crown that fiideth not away; the present one is 
already withered, the leaves are falling oflF. St. Paul says, ' All things 
shall work together for good to them who are in Christ Jesus.' I know 
I never was so tried before, tempted, proved in all things. I know that 
my Redeemer liveth, and that I am his by covenant promise. 

"I want you to read the one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm. There 
is not a day or night that I do not repeat it. Oh, for Zion ! I wept when 
I saw this idolatry. Think not, my dear friend, that I am in the least im- 
faithfuL It has a contrary effect. 

" I have written you tliis through the greatest bustle and confusion, 
The nobility have assembled to escort the General with a full band of 
inartial music to review the troops. Remember me to your dear husband, 
Mrs. Foster, Mrs. McLemore, Mrs. Martin, and all my Christian friends. 
Say to my father in the gospel— Parson Blackburn— I shall always love 
him as such. Often I have blessed the Lord that I was permitted to bt 



596 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

called under his ministry. Oh, farewell ! Pray for your sister in a heathen 
land, far from my people and church. Present me to all friends. I 
scarcely can hear for confusion. Tours, with affection, 

" Rachael Jackson." 

An incident occurred during the stay of Gleneral Jackson 
at New Orleans which was afterwards supposed to have made 
a lasting impression upon his mind, and to have been a re- 
mote cause of important events. He came into collision Avith 
the Bank of the United States. Desiring to take with him 
to Florida a sum of money, with which to defray the first 
expenses of organizing his government, he sent an aide-de- 
camp to the branch of the United States Bank at New Or- 
leans to learn whether the bank would advance ten or fifteen 
thousand dollars on a draft to be drawn by General Jackson 
upon the Department of State. The messenger returned 
with the reply that the branch bank had no authority to ad- 
vance money upon drafts. The mother bank, said the cash- 
ier, had expressly forbidden him to negotiate drafts. The 
aide-de-camp remonstrated and pointed out the inconveniences 
that might result from the refusal, but the cashier was im- 
movable, as he was bound to be. 

From the tone of the General's subsequent dispatch it is 
evident that he was somewhat nettled at the firmness of the 
cashier. "From all this," he wrote to the Secretary of State, 
" you will discover that, without discount, money can not be 
obtained here on drafts upon the government. No delay, 
however, shall occur in the transportation of the Spanisli 
troops from the want of funds, as far as I can command them; 
nor will I ever consent to sell bills on the government at a 
discount to any, and more particularly to the Branch Bank 
of the United States, in which is deposited all the revenue ol 
the government received at this place. I shall endeavor, at 
Mobile or Pensacola, to raise the necessary funds or drafts. 
Should I fail there, I trust, upon the receipt of this, the gov- 
ernment will instruct the Branch Bank to furnish me with 
the amount that may be necessary. 

The General here joins two grievances in one. The Branch 



1821.] FLORIDA OURS. 597 

Bank had not demanded discount, but refused, point blank, 
to negotiate the draft on any terms. It was the brokers of 
the street who would not, except at the regular discount, give 
the notes of the bank in exchange for the draft of General 
Jackson. 

The General soon resumed his journey toward Florida. 
Mrs. Jackson may again be the chronicler of his travels and 
adventures : — 

MRS. JACKSON TO MRS. ELIZA KINGSLEY. / 

" West Florida, June 21, 1821. 

" Mt Dear Friend : Tour letter of the 15th May I have received, and 
am happy to hear of your health and happiness, and your dear family, ex- 
cept the accident of Captain Kingsley getting his ancle sprained, which I 
heard by young Mr. Eutledge. I hope, ere this, he is quite restored. 

" I will now give you an account of our journey to this place. We 
took shipping on Lake Pontchartrain, crossed the Gulf Stream, and landed 
at Mobile Bay, at a town known by the name of Blakely. TJiere we tar- 
ried nine days. From thence we went to Mount-PeUer (Montpelier, Ala.). 
There we tarried five weeks, waiting the arrival of .the Hornet, that went 
with dispatches to the Governor General of Cuba on this Florida business. 
At length she arrived, and we set out for Pensacola, and are now within 
fifteen miles of that place. The General and the Spanish governor are nego- 
tiating the business. We are at a Spanish gentleman's, waiting the ex- 
changing of flags, and then we go into that city of contention. Oh, how 
they dishke the idea! They are going to the Havana — don't like the 
Americans, nor the government. 

" Oh, how shall I make you sensible of what a heathen land I am in ? 
Never but once have I heard a Gospel sermon, nor the song of Zion 
sounded in my ear. 

"Often I think of the Babylonish captivity, when they tauntingly 
called on them to sing the song of Zion. The answer was, ' Oh, how shall 
I sing the Lord's song here in a foreign land ?' One replied, ' When I for- 
get thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its craft or cunning; let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth when I esteem not Jerusalem 
above my chiefest joy.' Oh, I can, with all my heart and soul, say with 
truth, I, above all things, prefer the prosperity of the ChurcL Oh, I feel 
as if I was m a vast howling wilderness, far from my friends in the Lord, 
my home and country. The Sabbath entirely neglected and profaned. 
The regiment at Mount P., where we stayed five weeks, were no bet- 
ter than the Spaniards at this place. I was twice at the memorable Fori 



598 LIFE OP ANDEEW JACKSON. [1821. 

Mima, Fort Montgomery, near the Alabama. Stayed two nights with 
Mrs. Mims ; she is an intelligent woman in worldly affairs. Every step I 
have traveled on land is a bed of white sand ; no other timber than long- 
leaf pine on the rivers, the live-oak and magnolia. The most odoriferous 
flower grows on them I ever saw. Believe me, this country has been 
greatly overrated. The land produces nothing but sweet potatoes and 
yams. One acre of our fine Tennessee land is worth a thousand, 

" The General, I beUeve, wants to get home again as much as I do. 
He says to Captain Kingsley he will write to him so soon as he reaches 
Pensacola. We have the best house in town, I am told, and furnished. 
Dr. Bronaugh attends to it until the exchange of flags. So much deten- 
tion, I think the General wishes he had taken my advice. His health is 
not so good as when he left home. 

" I fear I have tired your patience. Please to remember me to all my 
friends, particularly to your dear husband. Miss Nancy, Mrs. Somerville, 
dear Mr. Blackburn. May the Sovereign of the universe grant you a con- 
tinuation of his blessing forevermore. Amen. 

" Eaohel Jackson. 

" Mks. E. Kjngsley. 

" Please to write me often. Remember me in prayer, for I can't find 
one in all my travels to help me on to God. The scripture says — ' as iron 
sharpeneth iron, so doth the face of friend his fellow.' No, not one in this 
wilderness. Oh ! how I wept when I read your letter. Oh, be thankful 
for your privilege. I have never seen Major Nicholas yet, but you would 
be surprised to see how many of our Tennesseans I have seen come to 
try to mend or better their situation." 

The many weeks of delay alluded to in this letter more 
than exhausted the patience of General Jackson. The deten- 
tion of the Hornet was unaccountable, and, until the Hornet 
arrived, nothing could be done. The General soon began to 
consider it another instance of Spanish treachery. " I am at 
a loss," he wrote to the Secretary of State, from Blakely, on 
the 7th of May, " to conjecture the causes of the delay of the 
Hornet. A few days will give us the reason, and I hope it 
may not be found to exist in any understanding between our 
merchants and the Governor General of Cuba. But, sir, 
it is rumored and believed here that such an attempt will be 
made by merchants to prevail upon the Governor General to 
withhold the order for the delivery of the Floridas until the 



1821.] F L R I D A U R s . 599 

last moment, to give time for the arrival of large shipments 
of goods for Pensacola," 

The General made repeated attempts to come to an under- 
standing with Colonel Callava, the Governor of Pensacola, 
and to effect a provisional arrangement for the delivery of the 
country. Colonel Callava's reply to all ])roposals was, that 
he could do nothing without the orders of his chief, the Gov- 
ernor General of Cuba. Much correspondence passed between 
General Jackson and Colonel Callava, both before and after 
the arrival of the Hornet, and a part of this correspondence 
was of a hostile character. Let us not revive those trivial 
disputes.* The Hornet arrived at length with the requisite 
orders. Some further delay occurred in consequence of the 
loss of .a vessel designed to assist in the transportation of the 
Spanish troops. But early in July all difHculties seemed on 
the point of being removed. The General wrote in a cheer- 
ful, and even merry mood, to his friend. Captain Donelson, 
upon the prospect before him. 

* Their character may be judged from one specimen given by General Jack- 
son's secretary and translator: " During my absence from Manuels, fifteen miles 
from Pensacola, wliere the General had established his headquarters, a letter had 
been receive^ from Callava, and was translated by Mr. Rutledge. The word 
compromiso had been rendered into tlie English word nearest in sound, compro- 
mise, instead of compromit. I found the General in a rage. 'Now,' said he, *I 
have found out this rascally Spaniard; I always knew these Spaniards to be 
treacherous. See here, after all our correspondence on the subject of the artil- 
lery, which we claim along with the forts, and after the compromise agreed upon 
that they are to remain, and the question to be finally decided by the respective 
governments, this fellow now says he will consent to no com])roinise P I assured 
him that the word was not compromise, but compromit, or compromited.' The 
pride of my young friend was touched, and he persisted in his translation ; the 
General, out of humor, declared that he could not decide between us, and I waa 
obliged to submit, where it was useless to contend. It became necessary for mo 
to write a long letter recapitulating the previous correspondence on the subject 
of the fortifications, and the compromise agreed upon. The reply was a short 
answer of assent, no doubt wondering at the letter which thus placed us at cross 
purposes. The consequences of this small mistake were most unfortunate. The 
unfavorable impression never could be removed from the mind of Jackson, and 
the effect of such an impression may be readily conceived. I firmly believe it to 
have been one of the causes which led to the subsequent unfortunate difl&culty 
with Callava." — Letters of H. M. Brackenridge. 



600 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

" I have been here/' wrote the General, July 3d, " fifteen 
miles from Pensacola, since the evening of the 17th, with my 
troops. Mrs. Jackson and the two Andrews have been in 
Pensacola since the 28th ult. Mrs. J. came up last evening 
to see me, and goes down to day, and I hope in four days to 
be in complete possession of the country, when I will write you, 
and be able to form an opinion when I will be able to see you 
(if life lasts) at my residence in Tennessee. I have had a very 
tedious and disagreeable time since the first of May, owing, 
first, to the delay of the Hornet, and secondly the delay occa- 
sioned by the loss of the transport ship, the Cora ; but I am 
happy to think that the time is near at hand when full pos- 
session of the Floridas will be had. Pensacola is crowded, 
and it is impossible under existing circumstances that any 
business can be profitable, although I have no doubt but Pen- 
sacola will rise into notice as a commercial city faster than 
any other place in the United States ; but it will take time 
for the necessary capital to concentrate there, and many in 
the first instance will be disappointed and go off" dissatisfied. 
A great field is now open to the real capitalist, and real prop- 
erty, well situated, must in a few years become very valuable. 
Mrs. Jackson requests me to return you her thanks for the 
pleasant and minute detail you were pleased to give her of 
her chickens, ducks, and goslings. If old Hannah* should 
be able to report as present as many chickens on our return 
in November, say to her, her mistress will dub her a knight 
of the feather and give her a medal plume. I am fearful the 
owls will destroy them. We are happy to hear that little 
Andrew J. Hutchings is so well contented. Say to him his 
cousin Andrew will bring him a pretty present when he re- 
turns, and I will buy him a pony. 

" Your son, Captain John Donelson, parted from us here 
a few days since highly pleased with his purchase made in 
1817 in Pensacola,* and 1 have no doubt if he holds it that 
in ten years it will gain 1,000 per cent." 

- A favorite servant of Mrs. Jackson's — still living in 1858, and eloquent in 
praise of her old " missus,' 



1821.] FLORIDA OURS. 601 

Some further delays occurred of a character calculated to 
exasperate an impatient and debilitated commissioner. But, 
at length, on the 17th of July, all the numberless prelimin- 
aries having been settled, the long-expected ceremony took 
place, and Florida became a Territory of the United States. 

The great event was described, the day after, by an officer 
who took part in the proceedings : " Yesterday, after a series 
of delays and disappointments, of a piece with the whole tenor 
of our twenty years' negotiations with Spain, the American 
authorities were finally and formally put in possession of this 
city, of the fortress of the Barancas, and of the dominion of 
the Floridas. Out of tenderness to the feelings of the Span- 
iards, deeply excited by the painful separation about to take 
place between those who go and those who remain — and who 
are allied not only by ties of intimacy and friendship con- 
tracted during a long period of a common residence in this 
pleasant and salubrious region, and confirmed by a commun- 
ity of habits and religion, as well as of lineage and language, 
but knitted together by the most sacred and endearing bands 
of consanguinity and affiance, the ceremony was conducted 
with very little ostentation. The Spanish Governor's guard, 
consisting of a full company of dismounted dragoons of the 
regiment of Tarragona, elegantly clad and equipped, was 
paraded at an early hour of the morning in front of the Gov- 
ernment House. About eight o'clock a battalion of the 4th 
regiment of United States infantry, and a company of the 
4th regiment of United States artillery, the whole under the 
command of Colonel Brooke, of the 4th infantry, were drawn 
up on the public square, opposite to the Spanish guard, hav- 
ing marched into town from the encampment at Galvez' 
Spring. The usual military salute passed between them. 
Four companies of infantry from the American line, under 
the command of Major Dinkins, of the 5th infantry, were 
then detached to take possession of the Barancas, which is 
nearly nine miles below this city. 

" At ten o'clock, the hour previously appointed, General 
Jackson, attended by his aids, secretary, interpreters, etc., 



602 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

crossed the green, passed between the double line formed by 
the troops of both nations, who simultaneously saluted him 
by presenting arms, and entered the Government House, 
where the formality of the transfer was soon dispatched, and 
the Spanish sergeant's guard at the gate was immediately re- 
lieved by an American guard. After a few minutes, Governor 
Jackson, accompanied by Colonel Callava, the late command- 
ant, and their respective suites, left the Government House, 
and passed through the same double line of troops to the 
house which the Governor has rented for the temporary ac- 
commodation of his family. The Spanish troops were then 
marched to the place of embarkation — the American flag was 
displayed upon the flag-staif, and grand salutes were fired by 
the artillery company and the United States ship Hornet, a 
gun being given to each State and Territory of the Federal 
Union, not forgetting Florida, and the regimental band, and 
that of the Hornet, playing the ' Star Spangled Banner' all 
the while. In the course of the day a number of the citizens 
waited on the new Governor to pay their respects and offer 
their gratulations. The delivery of the Barancas was per- 
formed with a little more parade. The Spanish flag was low- 
ered to half-mast. The American flag was raised to a level 
with it. Both flags were, in this situation, saluted by the 
Spaniards. After which, the Spanish colors were hauled 
down and the American ensign was hoisted. The Americans 
then saluted their national flag. The American troops made a 
fine and martial appearance, and the Hornet was gaily dressed. 
" We may now, at length, felicitate ourselves on our 
opening prospects. Pensacola is destined eventually to be- 
come the great emporium of the Gulf of Mexico, and to enjoy 
a large share of the trade of the West. Under the paternal 
government of Jackson, we hope soon to emerge from the 
weakness of infancy, and to escape from the restrictions of 
nonage. High expectations are entertained of his wisdom and 
magnanimity in his civil capacity. Of his courage and deci- 
sion, his military career has already afforded conspicuous 
proofs. To the hand that so ably wielded the weapons of 



1821.] FLORIDA OURS. 603 

war against foreign enemies are now committed the sword and 
the scales of justice, to weigh the rights of his felh^w-citizeus 
and to mete out punishment according to the measure of their 
wrongs ; to him who so gallantly stood forth the champion 
of his country is now confided the nurture and guardianship 
of the last offspring of freedom, the youngest child of the 
family of free and federated America. He will feel the ele- 
vation and responsibility of the trust reposed in him, of pro- 
tecting the rights and promoting the interests, of develoi)ing 
the resources, of giving tone to the character, and determina- 
tion to the energies of this embryo sovereignty, and he will 
act under a full conviction of his duty. 

" We have yet no press established in this city, though the 
printing apparatus for the office of The Floridian, a gazette 
Bome time since announced to be published here, was shipped 
from Philadelphia early in June. Indeed, we are daily look- 
ing for the arrival of the publisher of a paper from the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, whose proposals have been laid before the 
public in your journals. By a happy coincidence, however, 
the theater was opened for the first time in this city on 
the very evening of the day which witnessed the change of 
flags."* 

Mrs. Jackson, who had been living at Pensacola for two 
or three weeks before the exchange of flags, witnessed that in- 
teresting ceremonial from the galleries of her house, and was 
moved thereby to write to her friend in Nashville, perhaps the 
longest, and certainly one of the most interesting, of her let- 
ters. Her letter is worth a score of official dispatches, at least 
for biographical purposes. 

MRS. JACKSON TO MRS. ELIZA KINGSLEY. 

"Pensacola, 23d July, 1821. 

" Mt Dear Friend : I have been in this place four weeks. The reason 

I have denied myself the pleasure of writing you is that I was waiting for 

the great events which have taken place in this our day. that I had tho 

pea of a ready writer that I might give you a correct detail of the great 

* National Intelligencer, August 17, 1821. 



/ 



604 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

transaction, but it is as follows. We having a house prepared and furnished, 
the General advised me to move down and remain until he could with pro* 
priety march in with the fourth regiment. 

" Three weeks the transports were bringing the Spanish troops from St. 
Mark's in order that they should all sail to Cuba at the same time. At length 
they arrived, but during all this time the Governor of this place and the Gen- 
eral had daily communications, yet his lordshij) never waited on the General 
in pei'son. After the vessels returned from St. Mark's, the General came 
within two miles of Pensacola. They were then one week finishing the 
preL'minaries and ceremonies to be observed on the day of his entrance into 
the city. At length, last Tuesday was the day. At seven o'clock, at the 
precise moment, they hove in view under the American flag and a full band 
of music. The whole town was in motion. Never did I ever see so many pale 
faces. I am living on Main street, which gave me an opportunity of seeing 
a great deal from the upper galleries. They marched by to the government 
house, where the two Generals met in the manner prescribed, then his 
Catholic majesty's flag was lowered, and the American hoisted high in air, 
not less than one hundred feet. 

" how they burst into tears to see the last ray of hope departed of their 
devoted city and country — delivering up the keys of the archives, the vessels 
lying at anchor, in full view, to waft them to their distant port. Next 
morning they set sail under convoy of the Hornet, sloop of war, Anne 
xMaria, and the Tom Shields. How did the city sit solitary and mourn. 
Ne ver did my heart feel more for any people. Being present, I entered 
immediately into tlieir feelings. Their manners, laws, and customs, all 
changed, and really a change was necessary. My pen almost drops from 
my hand, the effort is so far short, so limited to what it might be. 

" Three Sabbaths I spent in this house before the country was in pos- 
session under American government. In all that time I was not an idle 
spectator. The Sabbath profanely kept ; a great deal of noise and swear- 
ing in the streets ; shops kept open ; trade going on, I think, more than on 
any other day. They were so boisterous on that day I sent Major Stanton 
to say to them that the approaching Sunday would be differently kept 
And must I say the worst people here are the cast-out Americans and ne- 
groes? Yesterday I had the happiness of witnessing the truth of what I 
had said. Great order was observed ; the doors kept shut ; the gambling 
houses demolished ; fiddling and dancing not heard any more on the Lord's 
day ; cursing not to be heard. 

" What, what has been done in one week ! A province delivered to 
the American people; the laws of the land we live in they are now 
under. 

" You can't conceive what an important, arduous, laborious work it has 
been and is. I had no idea of it until daily it unfolded the mystery to view. 



1821.] FLORIDA OURS. 605 

I am convinced that no mortal man could do this and suffer so many pri- 
rations, unless the God of our salvation was his help in every time of trouble. 
While the General was in camp, fourteen miles from Peusacola, he was very 
sick. I went to see him, and to try and persuade him to come to hia house. 
But, no. All his friends tried. He said that when he came in it should be 
under his own standard, and that would be the third time he had planted 
that flag on that wall. And he has done so. how solemn was hia 
pale countenance when he dismounted from his horse. Eecollectiona 
of perils and scenes of war not to be dissevered presented themselves 
to view. 

" There were no shouts of joy or exultation heard ; but, on the con- 
trary, we sympathized with these people. Still, I think, the Lord had a 
controversy with them. They were hving far from God. If they would 
have the gospel of Jesus and his apostles, it would have been otherwise, 
but they would not. The field is white for harvest, but where are the 
laborers ? Not one. Oh, for one of our faithful ministers to come and im- 
part the word of life to them. I have heard but one gospel sermon since 
we left home. But I know that my Redeemer liveth. He is my shield. 
I shall not want. He will not leave me nor forsake me in all my trials 
through this wilderness. Oh, pray for me; I have need of that aid from 
my dear Christian friends. 

" I will give you a faint description of the country and of this place; 
knowing that my dear friend will throw a veil over my errors and imper- 
fections. 1. Pensacola is a perfect plain ; the land nearly as white as flour, 
yet productive of fine peach trees, oranges in abundance, grapes, figs, pome- 
granates, etc., etc. Fine flowers growing spontaneously, for they have 
neglected the gardens, expecting a change of government. The town is 
immediately on the bay. The most beautiful water prosnect I ever saw ; 
and from ten o'clock in the morning until ten at night we have the finest 
sea breeze. There is something in it so exhilarating, so pure, so whole- 
some, it enlivens the whole system. All the houses look in ruins, old 
as time. Many squares of the town appear grown over wiJi the thick- 
est shrubs, weeping willows, and the Pride of China; all look neglected. 
The inhabitants all speak Spanish and French. Some speak four or five 
languages. Such a mixed multitude, you, nor any of us, ever had an idea 
of. There are fewer white people far than any other, mixed with all nations 
under the canopy of heaven, almost in nature's darkness. But, thanks to 
the Lord that has put grace in this his servant to issue his proclamation in 
a language they all understand, I think the sanctuary is about to be purged 
for a minister of the gospel to come over to the help of the Lord in this 
dark region. 

" There is a Catholic church in the place, and the priest seems a divine 
looking man. He comes to see us. He dined with us yesterday, the Gov- 



606 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

ernor and Secretary, French, Spanish, American ladies, and aU. I have 
as pleasant a house as any in town. 

" We have a handsome view of the bay on Main street. You wiU 
scarcely beheve me, but it is a fact, the vessels are daily coming in loaded 
with people. The place is nearly full ; a great many come for their health. 
It is very healthy — so pure and wholesome. No fields of corn or wheat 
in all my travels, except one place near Mount Pelier. The growth en- 
tirely pine, some live-oak, magnolia, bay, which are all evergreens. The 
weather is oppressively warm to me, and raining every day. Sometimes 
the streets are two feet deep in water. But for the sand, we could not 
live. It has rained three months, almost every day, since we left New 
Orleans. I have the society of Amanda G-rage, and the mother ot Mr. 
Grage, and two more Christian ladies. I fear I shall put your patience to 
the test. I pray you bear Avith me a little. I have so many things to 
write you, and it may be the last opportunity I shall have, and I know 
I have not half done justice to the picture. I hope you will see it from 
some able penman. My dear husband is, I think, not any the better as to 
his health. He has indeed performed a great work in his day. Had I heard 
iby the hearing of the ear I could not have believed. 

" Have we all gone from you so far that no intelligence can reach our 
place of destination ? There is no mail, no post-ofBce here. All these in- 
conveniences will be remedied shortly. Miss Grage received a letter from 
Mrs. Berryhill, wherein she states the illness of Mr. Campbell and several 
others in Nashville, but some pleasing news of the church. Oh, for Zion ! 
I am not at rest, nor can I be, in a heathen land. Say to Captain Kingsley 
the General sends his best wishes to you both. He will write when he 
can have a moment. Remember me with much love to all my friends. 
Say to Mrs. Foster not to forget me, Mrs. Judge Campbell, Miss P. Lewis, 
Miss Nancy Ayers, Mrs. Somerville, and all and every one. How happy 
and thankful should you be in a land of gospel light and liberty. 

" Oh, rejoice and be glad, far more it is to be desired than all the honor 
and riches in this vain world. Farewell, my dear friend, and should the 
great Arbiter of fate order his servant not to see her kindred and friends 
again, I hope to meet you in the realms of everlasting bliss. Then I shall 
weep no more at parting. 

" Do not be uneasy for me. ' Although the vine yield no fruit, and 
the olive no oil, yet will I serve the Lord.' 

" Adieu, adieu, 

"Rachel JAaKSOir. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Kingsley. 

" Say to Mr. K. Andrew is learning Spanish." 



1821.] THE GOVERNOR DISAPPOINTED. 607 

CHAPTER XLY. 

THE GOVERNOR IS DISAPPOINTED. 

G-ENERAL Jackson's powers, as Governor of Florida, were 
extraordinary, but strictly limited. " Know ye," ran his com- 
mission, " that, reposing special trust and confidence in the 
integrity, patriotism, and abilities of Major-General Andrew 
Jackson, I do appoint him to exercise all the powers and 
authorities heretofore exercised by the governor and captain- 
general and intendant of Cuba, and by the governors of East 
and West Florida ; provided, however, that the said Andrew 
Jackson, or any person acting under him, or in the said terri- 
tories, shall have no power or authority to lay or collect any 
new or additional taxes, or to gi-ant or confirm to any person 
or persons, whomsoever, any title or claims to land within the 
same." 

The long delay in the surrender of the province had given 
the Governor ample time to prepare the requisite measures, 
and, accordingly, on the very day after the exchange of flags, 
he began to publish ordinances for the government of the 
towns. He appointed mayors and aldermen, and empowered 
the mayors and aldermen of each place to " levy such taxes as 
may be necessary for the support of the town government." 
This act, it has been often charged, was in direct violation 
of his commission, which forbade the imposition of " new or 
additional taxes." But it has never been shown that the 
taxes imposed by the town governments were either new or 
additional. The council of St. Augustine, for example, laid 
a tax of twenty-five cents on every hundred dollars' worth 
of real estate, a tax of one dollar a year on each slave over 
seven years of age, two dollars a year upon each dog, twenty- 
four dollars a year upon every dram-shop, fifty dollars a year 
upon billiard tables, ten dollars upon every "riding carriage," 
seven and a half per cent, upon the gross amount of auction 



608 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

sales. If either of these impositions were new or additional, 
then the Governor transcended his powers. 

Another of Governor Jackson's ordinances was selected 
by his opponents in later years for special animadversion. 
He was required by the language of his commission, and by 
an act of Congress, to protect the people of Floiida in the 
" free enjoyment of their religion." The first ordinance 
issued by the Governor contained the following section : "As 
the Christian Sabbath is observed throughout the civilized 
world, it is ordained that, in order to remove any doubt which 
might be entertained with respect to the powers of the mayor 
and council on this subject, the said mayor and council be 
authorized to make any regulations on the observance thereof 
ivhich they may deem proper." Under such an ordinance, 
the mayor and council, if they had deemed it proper, might 
liave shut up the Catholic churches and silenced the priests. 
But they did not deem it proper so to do. The ordinance 
meant simply this : Mrs. Rachel Jackson desires, and Gov- 
ernor Andrew Jackson ordains, that the theater and gam- 
bling houses be shut on Sundays. And the theater and 
gambling houses were shut on Sundays, accordingly. From 
what we can learn of the people of Florida, it does not ap- 
pear that the witnessing of plays or the frequenting of gam- 
bling houses on the first day of the week was a requirement 
of their " religion." 

It appears, however, that no class of the inhabitants of 
Florida looked upon the change of government with so much 
disgust as the Catholic priests. A scene occurred at St. Au- 
gustine, immediately after the exchange of flags at that post, 
which would have gladdened the heart of Mrs. Jackson to 
witness. Among the crowd assembled in the public square 
to behold the ascent of the stars and stripes to the summit 
of the flag-staff was a Methodist preacher, with a bundle of 
tracts under his arm. The instant that the preacher saw the 
flag of his country fling out its beautiful folds to the breeze, 
saluted by the troops, by martial music and the cheers of tho 
multitude, he left the exciting scene to begin the great work 



1821.] THE GOVERNOR DISAPPOINTED. 609 

of evangelizing the country. He went about the town, leaving 
a Protestant tract at every house, and giving one to every 
man, woman and child he met. Soon a Catholic priest came 
forth indignant to remonstrate, and prevent his further pro- 
ceedings. The preacher pointed to the American flag. The 
priest looked at it in silence for a moment. Blank dismay 
overspread his countenance, and he vanished without another 
word. The preacher continued to distribute his tracts, tri- 
umphant.* 

Governor Jackson proceeded with the organization of his 
government, and, in a very few days, had completed the pre- 
liminary measures, and set the wheels of government in mo- 
tion. The Spaniards, with the exception of Colonel Callava 
and a few of his officers and servants, had left the province. 
Pensacola was full of new-comers from the United States, in 
pursuit of fortune. Pensacola, it was generally supposed, 
would at once become an important and prosperous commer- 
cial city, and they who came earliest would be the first to rise 
with its rising fortunes. It had not occurred to these eager 
gentlemen that, before a town can attain commercial great- 
ness, there must be a population behind it to buy what it 
imports and produce what it exports. Pensacola, they 
thought, would become a second New Orleans, without a 
Mississippi river. 

All were disappointed, and no one so much so as Governor 
Jackson. He had not, it is true, indulged those extravagant 
expectations respecting the business of Pensacola. But he 
had come to Florida in the hope of being able to provide 
several of his friends with lucrative appointments, and that 
expectation had been one of the strongest motives which in- 
duced him to accept the Governorship. Upon learning, there- 
fore, that the best offices in the Territory had been aheady 
given away by the President, he was a disappointed man. 
To provide bountifully for those who had served him, and for 
those to whom he was attached, was one of the ruling pas- 

* Sewall's St. Augustine. Anecdote related to Mr. Sewall by the victorioua 

preacher. 

VOL. II. — 39 



ttlO LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

sions of Andrew Jackson. He demanded from his friends au 
entire devotion to his interests, a complete acquiescence in his 
cherished opinions, an absolute deference to his will. Grant 
him these, and he would girdle the earth to serve you, and 
defy every thing but Omnipotence. Alone, against the world, 
he would stand up for your honor or your interest. This dis- 
appointment was, therefore, one which wounded and exas- 
perated him beyond measure, and the more as the climate of 
Florida and his manifold vexations previous to his arrival 
had brought on a recurrence of a disease which both debiU- 
tates and irritates. 

A very few weeks sufficed to sicken him of his governor- 
ship thoroughly, Mrs. Jackson wrote to one of her brothers, 
August 25th : " There never was a man more disappointed 
than the General has been. In the first place he has not the 
power to appoint one of his friends ; which, I thought, was 
in part the reason of his coming. But far has it exceeded 
every calculation ; it has almost taken his life. Cajjtain 
Call says it is equal to the Seminole campaign ; well I knew 
it would be a ruining concern. I shall not pretend to describe 
the toils, fatigue and trouble ; those Spaniards had as leave 
die as give up their country. He has had terrible scenes ; the 
governor has been put in the calaboose ; which is a terrible 
thing, really. I was afraid there would be a rebellion, but 
the Spanish troops were all gone to the Havannah ; several 
officers remaining here yet. We have a hope of setting put 
on the 1st of October for home. Little Andrew and Colonel 
Butler have started for Tennessee ; he was the most anxious 
creature I ever saw in my life. They all begin to think with 
me that Tennessee is the best country yet. Tell our friends 
I hope to see them again in our country, and to know it is 
the best I ever saw. What a pity that some do not know 
when they are well off in this world. They not only hurt 
themselves but those that are innocent." 

A month later she wrote to her friend, Mrs. Kingsley : 
" The General, I think, is the most anxious man to get home 
I ever saw. He calls it the wild-goose ohase, his coming here. 



I821.] THE GOVERNOR DISAPPOINTED. Gil 

He tells me to say to you and Captain Kingslcy tliat in tlio 
multiplicity of business, if he had or could have seen any ad- 
vantages for your better prospects, he would have \Yritten 
Captain K. long since. You are in the best country in 
America. Oh, how has this place been overrated. We have 
had a great many deaths ; still I know it is a healthy climate. 
Amongst many disadvantages, it has few advantages. I pity 
Mr. J., he will have so much fatigue. Not one minister of 
the gospel has come to this place yet ; no not one ; but we 
have a prayer-meeting every Sabbath. The house is crowded 
so there is not room for them. Sincere prayers are constantly 
sent up to the Hearer of Prayer for a faithful minister. Oh, 
what a reviving, refreshing scene it would be to the Christians, 
though few in number. The non-professors desire it. Blessed 
be God, he has a few even here that are bold in declaring their 
faith in Christ. You named, my dear friend, my going to 
the theater. I went once, and then with much reluctance. 
I felt so little interest in it, however, I shall not take up much 
time in apologizing. My situation is a peculiar one at this 
time. I trust in the Lord my dear child, Andrew, reached 
home in safety. I think you all must feel a great deal for 
me, knowing how my very heart recoiled at the idea of what 
I had to encounter. Many have been disappointed. I have 
not. I saw it as plain as I now do when it is passing. Oh 
Lord, forgive, if thy will, all those my enemies that had an 
agency in the matter. Many wander about like lost sheep ; 
all have been disappointed in offices. Crage has a constable's 
place of no value. The President made all the appointments, 
and sent them from the city of Washington." 

General Jackson himself wrote home to his friends in a 
similar strain. A letter of his, written on the 3d of Septem- 
ber, to his brother-in-law, Captain John Donelson, may find 
place here. Only a small part of it relates to Florida, but the 
other portions well illustrate the care and exactness with which 
he managed his business afiairs. This letter, for various rea- 
sons, which will be apparent to the intelligent reader, demands 
particular attention. 



612 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

GENERAL JACKSON TO CAPTAIN JOHN DONELSON, SEN, 

" Pensacola, September 2d, 1821. 

" Dear Sir : Last night's mail brought me yours of the 1st of August, 
for which I sincerely thank you. I have received, after a tedious delay ou 
the passage, all your letters, and for your attention to my interest in my 
absence I cherish, and wiU through life, the most friendly and lively recol- 
lection. I have received no letter from Mr. Saunders on the subject of my 
cotton. Dr. Beebe writes, the 28th of July, that on that day he stated to 
him the amount of sales of my cotton to be five hundred and fifly-one dollars. 
There is an express agreement that he is to pay me the exchange at Nash- 
ville for the money of New Orleans. This I have no doubt he will acknowl- 
edge. Old Mr. Richardson must be paid as soon as the work is done ; and 
when you apply to Mr. Saunders for money for this purpose, you will please 
settle with him the exchange, and have it added to the amount of sales 
before you receive it. That for the use of the money for which the cotton 
was sold at New Orleans he is to allow me at Nashville the exchange for 
New Orleans money, I am well assured he will acknowledge. I hope be- 
fore the other contract for the cedar becomes due I shall be at home. Should 
I not, I have informed Mr. Saunders that the money is to be applied by you 
to those debts, and that I had given you a memorandum of them and an 
order tor the money. I am certain he will pay it when you apply. The 
balance of cotton coming to you you will retain out of the fiirst money Mr. 
Saunders pays out of the proceeds of the cotton. 

" I hope we will be able to leave here by the first of October for home. 
Mrs. Jackson's health is not good, and I am determined to travel her aa 
early as my business and her health will permit, even if I should be com- 
pelled to come back to settle my business and turn over the government to 
my successor. I am determined to resign my office the moment Congress 
meets, and live near you the balance of my life. 

" I fear the paper system has and will ruin the State. Its demoralizing 
effects are clearly seen and spoken of everywhere, and I have but little 
doubt (at least I fear it) that it has predominated in your late elections, al- 
though I am unadvised how they have terminated. But from Dr. Butler'a 
letter I learn that he is doubtful that Colonel Wood will lose his election. 
If this should be the case, let every honest man take care of himself, and 
have nothing to do with the new rags of the State ; for, be assured, it will 
be a reign of immoral rule, and the interest of speculators will be alone con- 
sulted during the existence of the new-dynasty. 

" Say to Mr. Saunders that he well recollects that I objected to the new 
State bank bills. I never had one of them, and I never will receive one of 
them. In this country you could not pass them, and get one dollar in specie 



1821.] THE GOVERNOR DISAPPOINTED. 613 

for ten dollars in them. I therefore protest against receiving any of tho 
trash, and I am sure Mr. Saunders will not offer it* I will take the old 
State bank or its branches at the excnange for Orleans. 

" Before this reaches you, Colonel Butler and our little son will be with 
you. I hope, I trust, you will extend your care over him until we are 
where he has gone. You may be sure your sister will not remain long be- 
hind. We all enjoy tolerable health at present, but I am wearied with 
business this hot weather. 

" Present us affectionately to your lady and family, and all our frienda, 
and accept for yourself our choicest blessings. Adieu. 

" Andrew Jackson." 

With the insight afforded by these letters into the Gov- 
ernor's feelings, the reader will be able to judge correctly the 
extraordinary scenes to which Mrs. Jackson alludes, when 
she states that Colonel Callava had been in the calaboose. 
" Which is a terrible thing really," remarks the good lady. 
It was not a very terrible thing really. It was only terrible 
apparently — terrible in print. 

One or two anecdotes, however, before we proceed to that 
agitating subject. A few days after General Jackson's arrival 
at Pensacola a fire broke out near the center of the town. 
The Spanish population rushed to the public square to view 
the spectacle ; but not a man of them attempted to extin- 
guish the flames. General Jackson soon arrived, and, seeing 
the apathy of the people, uttered one of his fiercest yells, 
which was intended merely to rouse the spectators to exer- 
tion. The poor Spaniards, not comprehending the phrase 
employed by the General, and having imbibed impressions 
respecting the ferocity of his disposition that rendered him 
an object of terror, were struck with consternation, and took 
to their heels. The General was left in the square the sole 
spectator of the conflagration, until the troops came running 
in from the barracks. 

Another event of a far different nature occurred about 
this time, which I would gladly omit, but must not. Judge 
Brackenridge tells the story : " In the plenitude of his power 
he permitted a fatal duel to be fought in Pensacola, in the 
most public and notorious manner, when a single word from 



614 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

him would have prevented it ! I allude to the unfortunate 
aifair of Hull and Kandal, two young officers; the former just 
then reformed, the other still in the army. Randal came from 
Baton Rouge on purpose, it was generally said, to draw a chal- 
lenge from Hull, who had thrown out threats against him. 
The challenge was accordingly given by Hull ; the duel took 
place ; Dr. Bronaugh, the bosom friend of General Jackson, 
acting as physician. I was present when the doctor returned 
to communicate the result to the General, who was waiting 
impatiently to hear it. Poor Hull was shot through the 
heart ; his pistol, which was a hair trigger, had stopped at 

half cock. The General was much displeased. ' D n the 

pistol,' said he ; ' by G-d, to think that a brave man should 
risk his life on a hair trigger !' He was sufficiently generous 
not to arrest Randal, but gave him an intimation instantly 
to quit the town, which might have been given before the 
affair had taken place."* 

General Jackson, then, still believed in the pistol. Yes, 
reader ; his wife had not yet succeeded in converting him 
from that bad faith. Will she ever do it ? Not till her 
tongue is still in death ; not till she has for many a year 
spoken to him from her tomb in the Hermitage garden. 



CHAPTER XL v. 

COLONEL CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 

Of the governors of Pensacola with whom we have had to 
do in the course of our history Colonel Callava, the last of 
the Spanish governors, was by far the most agreeable and the 
most respectable character. He was a Castihan, of a race 
akin to the Saxon, of light complexion, a handsome, well- 
grown man, of dignified presence and refined manners. He 

* Letters of the Hon. H. M. Brackenridge. Pamphlet, 1832. 



1821.J COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 615 

won rapid proiuotion by good service in the Peninsular war, 
and was a colonel and a governor before he was forty years of 
age. After the surrender of liis town to General Jackson, he 
still retained, as he supposed, the office of Spanish commis- 
sioner, and continued to reside in the place, to superintend 
the embarkation of artillery, and other unfinished business. 
With the officers of the fourth regiment, which formed the 
American garrison of Pensacola, he was a favorite, and was 
frequently invited by them to entertainments. Nor were the 
American ladies in the town averse to the society of the hand- 
some Castilian ; though most of them found it difficult to 
converse with a gentleman whose ignorance of the English 
language was as complete as their ignorance of Spanish. 

If an angel from heaven had appeared to General Jackson 
in the guise of a Spanish governor he w^ould not have liked 
him — so rooted was his prejudice against Spanish governors. 
And that Spanish governor from heaven would have found it 
difficult to so far forget or overlook what General Jackson had 
formerly done in Florida as to regard the General with an en- 
tirely friendly eye. The presence, therefore, of Colonel Cal- 
lava in Pensacola — particularly after what had occurred pre- 
vious to the surrender — furnished the material for a grand 
explosion, provided the governor and the ex-governor should 
by any accident come into collision. 

A collision was destined to occur, and a worthy gentle- 
man of General Jackson's own household was to be its inno- 
cent and astonished cause. 

On his journey to Florida, General Jackson fell in with a 
young lawyer and scholar, Mr. Henry M. Brackenridge, of 
Pennsylvania, who was also on his way to Pensacola. Mr. 
Brackenridge, who had already distinguished himself as a re- 
viewer, author and pamphleteer, and had held a foreign ap- 
pointment, had been assured by the President that he should 
not be forgotten in the distribution of the Florida offices, 
and he was going to the new territory upon that assurance. 
As he was an accomplished linguist, particularly well versed 
in the Spanish and French languages, General Jackson, who 



616 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

needed the assistance of just such a gentleman, invited him to 
become a member of his official family, and to aid him in 
forming his government. The invitation was gladly accepted 
by Mr. Brackenridge, and most of the dispatches and procla- 
mations, signed by General Jackson during his brief tenure 
of office in Florida, were penned by him. In after years, we 
may add, Mr. Brackenridge became Judge Brackenridge, and 
a member of Congress ; and he still lives, in honorable retire- 
ment in his native State, to serve the reader of these pages 
by contributing to them from the stores of his well-filled 
memory. 

After the exchange of flags, Greneral Jackson appointed 
Mr. Brackenridge to the office of Alcalde of Pensacola, part 
of whose duty it was to receive from the Spanish authorities, 
and preserve, the papers and records relating to private pro- 
perty. By the terms of the treaty all such documents were 
to be given over to the authorities of the United States. 

For the complete understanding of the comedy about to 
be unfolded, it is necessary to introduce to the reader another 
of the persons of the drama — ^Elijius Fromentin, Judge of the 
United States for West Florida. 

No public man of the United States has had such a strange 
career as this Judge Fromentin. He was a native of France, 
where he was educated at a college of the Jesuits for the 
priesthood, and Avas, in due time, ordained. When he had 
exercised the priestly functions for some years, the French 
revolution closed the churches and expelled the priests. Fro- 
mentin then laid aside his gown, emigrated to the United States, 
taught French in one of the academies of Maryland, married 
into an influential family of that State, removed to Louisiana, 
acquired a smattering of law, and established himself in New 
Orleans as a practitioner of the same. His knowledge of 
French and English, his Jesuit scholarship, the insinuating 
suavity of his manners, and the influence of his wife's rela- 
tives, all combined to enable him to achieve a position, and, 
in a few years, this Jesuit priest was a senator of the United 
States from the State of Louisiana ! He served one term, 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 617 

and not altogether without distinction, if we may judge from 
the printed debates, but he was not reelected. 

The Bourbons were restored. Priestly influence was in 
the ascendant in France. The Jesuits had new hopes. Then 
our priestly senator abandoned his wife, went to France, 
sought restoration to his priestly office, and indulged dreams 
of high preferment in the church. But the story of his Ame- 
rican marriage leaking out, the double renegade was disap- 
pointed, and returned to America. His wife, not aware of 
the full extent of his turpitude, listened indulgently to his 
protestations and excuses, and consented to live with him 
again. Fromentin reappeared in New Orleans, to find that 
the report of his unworthy conduct had preceded him, and 
that the door to all profitable employment was closed against 
him. By the influence of his wife's family, however, Mr. 
Monroe, ignorant of the man's true character, was induced to 
give him the temporary appointment of judge in Florida, 
rejecting the application of G-eneral Jackson himself on behalf 
of one of his Tennessee friends. He reached Florida some 
weeks after the cession of the province, but in time to take a 
leading part in the comedy of Much Ado about Less than 
Nothing, which we are about to describe. 

These, then, were the principal actors : General Jackson, 
Colonel Callava, Alcalde Brackenridge, and Judge Fromentin. 
The subordinate characters were numerous, but do not need 
particular introduction. There was, also, a large force of 
supernumeraries, such as Spanish officers, American soldiers, 
awe-struck Creoles, terrified populace, excited Americans, 
and ladies in a state of consternation. 

Scene I. — Alcalde Brackenridge in his office. Enter a 
quadroon woman, with a bundle of papers in her hand. The 
quadroon states her business with the Alcalde. 

" You see before you, sir," (she might have said, and did 
in substance say,) " a woman robbed of her inheritance by 
wicked and powerful men. I am one of the heirs of Nicholas 
Maria Vidal, who died in Florida so long ago as the year 
1807, leaving large possessions — a tract of sixteen thousand 



618 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

acres at Baton Kouge, besides valuable property in Pensaeola. 
The estate fell into the hands of the great commercial house 
of Forbes & Co., represented here by Mr. Innerarity. They 
will not disgorge, illustrious Alcalde. We, the lawful heirs 
of the deceased Vidal, have petitioned, and petitioned, and 
petitioned ; but always in vain. Our petitions have been 
granted in word, but not in effect. Governors of Pensacola 
have ordered Forbes & Co. to render an account of their 
stewardship ; but that powerful house laughs at governors, 
and we are stiU kept out of our inheritance. At this time, 
Seiior Alcalde, we are about to lose all hope ; for the papers 
upon which we depend for the gaining of our rights are about 
to be carried away to Havana. They are in the custody of 
one Domingo Sousa, an officer under Colonel Callava, Sousa 
will permit us, he says, to copy the papers, which consist of 
hundreds of pages of manuscript ; but we are poor, and can 
not pay the expense of copying. Now, we throw ourselves 
upon the justice of the American government, and beg that 
our papers may not be carried out of the province, and that 
our inheritance may be given to us." 

The tender heart of the Alcalde was touched by this re- 
cital. He examined the papers brought by the woman. 
They appeared to confirm her story. It was evident that the 
papers in the possession of Sousa belonged to the class of 
documents. which, by the treaty of cession, were to be left in 
Florida. The Alcalde determined that, as far as in him lay, 
he would cause justice to be done to the heu's of Vidal. The 
papers should not be carried off", at least. 

Scene II. — General Jackson in his office. The Alcalde 
enters. The Alcalde repeats the piteous tale of the quadroon. 
The soul of General Jackson swells with virtuous indignation 
as he listens to the story. He, too, resolves that the papers 
shall be rescued from Sousa's strong box, and the wrongs of 
the heirs righted. Yes — ^by the Eternal ! 

" But stop, Mr. Alcalde. This is a serious matter, and 
may lead to important consequences. We will have every- 
thing put into writing. Prepare a written application to me, 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 619 

as Governor of the territory, for authority to demand the 
papers from Domingo Sousa." 

The Alcalde obeyed. The Governor, in turn, drew up the 
requisite order, addressed to three gentlemen. Alcalde Brack- 
enridge, George Walton, Secretary of West Florida, and 
John Miller, Clerk of the County Court. " Gentlemen," ran 
the Governor's order, " having been officially informed that 
there are a number of papers or documents in the possession 
of an individual of the name of Domingo Sousa, of a public 
nature, and which belong to the office of the Alcalde of this 
town, although not delivered with the other documents re- 
lating to private property, you are hereby authorized and 
instructed to proceed to the dwelling of the said Domingo 
Sousa, and to make a demand of all such papers or docu- 
ments as may be in his possession. In case the said Sousa 
should refuse to exhibit and deliver the same, you will imme- 
diately report the fact to ipe in writing." 

Scene III. — An apartment in the house of Don Domingo 
Sousa. Enter Messrs. Brackenridge, Walton, and Miller, 
received by Don Domingo with profound salutations. They 
make known their errand. Senor Sousa, at once, acknowl- 
edged that he had in his possession two boxes of papers, but 
they belonged to the military tribunal and to the revenue 
department, and had no connection with private property. 
In testimony whereof, he produced the boxes and permitted 
the commissioners to examine their contents. Most of the 
papers proved to be of the character which Seiior Sousa had 
represented them to be ; but in one of the boxes the docu- 
ments relating to the estate of Nicholas Maria Vidal were 
found. The commissioners demanded those documents. Senor 
Sousa replied that he was but the servant of Colonel Callava, 
who had placed these boxes in his custody, and that, without 
an order from Colonel Callava, he could not in honor deliver 
up any part of their contents. The commissioners presented 
to him a written demand for the papers, to which Senor 
Sousa returned a written refusal. 

Exeunt commissioners. Don Domingo Sousa, with the 



620 LIFE OF ANDKEW JACKSON. [1821. 

assistance of a negro servant, conveyed the boxes in haste to 
the house of Colonel Callava, and hopes he has washed his 
hands of them. 

Scene IV. — At the office of General Jackson. The Gen- 
eral receives the report of the commissioners, and is filled 
with indignation at Sousa's audacity. He issues an order to 
the following effect : " Colonel Kobert Butler, of the army of 
the United States, and Colonel John Miller, clerk of the 
county of Escambia, are hereby commanded forthwith to pro- 
ceed to seize the body of the said Domingo Sousa, together 
with the said papers, and bring him and them before me, at my 
office immediately, to the end that he then and there answer 
such interrogatories as may be put to him ; and to comply 
with such order and decree touching the said documents and 
records, as the rights of the individuals may require and the 
justice of the case demand." 

The astonished Sousa is soon brought in a prisoner, and 
subjected to a rigorous questioning. He could only reply that 
he had taken the papers to the house of Colonel Callava, and 
there left them, in the absence of Callava, in charge of the 
major-domo, whose name was Fullarat. General Jackson 
ordered Sousa to be conducted under military guard to Col- 
onel Callava, to procure the papers, and to bring them to 
him, in default of which he was to be committed to the cala- 
boose, and therein confined until the delivery of the papers. 
Lieutenant Sousa departs under guard. 

Scene V. — A dining-room at the headquarters of the 
fourth regiment. A large party seated at the dinner table, 
among them Colonel Brooke of the fourth regiment. Captain 
Kearney of the United States navy, Judge Fromentin, Mrs. 
Brooke, and other ladies. Colonel Callava and a number of 
Spanish officers. A noise heard without. Enter, Domingo 
Sousa, in a state of wild excitement, demanding to see hia 
chief, Colonel Callava, and exclaiming, " They are conduct- 
ing me to prison." 

" For what cause ?" inquired Colonel Callava, rising from 
the table. 



1821.] COL. CAVALLA IN THE CALABOOSE. 621 

" Sir/' replied Sousa, " yesterday, three American citizens 
came to my house demanding of me, with authority (as they 
said) of the Governor, Don Andrew Jackson, that I should 
deliver them certain civil causes of the military jurisdiction 
and of the finance, which they had been told were in my pos- 
session. I had some boxes, with papers of the military tri- 
bunal and of that of the finance, which you had put under 
my care for their preservation till they should be sent to the 
Havana with those of the secretary's office. I said that I was 
your subaltern, subject to your immediate orders in your com- 
mission, and, therefore, without your express order, I could de- 
liver nothing; for which reason I represented to them that they 
should make their request to you. The three persons men- 
tioned went away, and after a short space they paid me an- 
other visit, with the same demand in writing, and requiring 
me to answer it in the same manner. I did so ; and this 
morning having gone to you to communicate it to you, I did 
not find you in the house, and my mind told me to place 
those boxes there immediately. I carried them and placed 
them in your apartment in charge of your servant, and I gave 
him a message to deliver to you the moment you came in, if 
I did not see you before ; but in a short time I having in- 
formed you in the street, you answered me that it was well. 
My house was presently searched by the same three persons, 
and they told me that, unless I delivered the papers, I must 
go to prison. I answered that the boxes were in your house; 
and they are carrying me to prison." 

Colonel Callava then ordered his aide-de-camp to go to 
Don Andrew Jackson, and inform him that Sub-Lieutenant 
Sousa was indeed one of his officers, and had no authority to 
deliver the papers intrusted to him. If Don Andrew would 
only address himself to him. Colonel Callava, Don Andrew 
should have every satisfaction. 

Exeunt Sousa and the officers in whose custody he was. 
Exit the aide-de-camp. Exit Colonel Callava stricken with 
indigestion. Colonel Callava goes home in agony. Dinnei 



622 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

party disperses. Mrs. Brooke compassionate. Sousa is con- 
ducted to the calaboose. 

Scene VI. — The office of General Jackson. The Genera] 
has been informed of the result of the interview between Sousa 
and his colonel. The blood of the terrible Don Andrew is now 
thoroughly up. He will have the papers before he sleeps, or 
know the reason why. He writes the following brief but 
ominous order, addressed to Colonel Brooke : " Sir, you will 
furnish an officer, sergeant, corporal, and twenty men, and 
direct the officer to call on me by half past eight o'clock p. m. 
for orders. They will have their arms and accoutermenta 
complete, with twelve rounds of ammunition." 

At the time appointed. Lieutenant Mountz, of the fourth 
regiment, with a file of twenty men, arrived at the office of 
Governor Jackson and waited for further orders. The irate 
Governor proceeded with much circumspection. His orders 
were that Colonel Robert Butler, of the arm , Dr. Bronaugh, 
and Alcalde Brackenridge, should proceed to the house of 
Colonel Callava, accompanied by the troops, and demand the 
papers. If Colonel Callava gave them up, well ; if not, 
Lieutenant Mountz was ordered " immediately to take the 
said Colonel Callava and his steward Fullarat into custody 
and bring them before me, to answer such interrogatories as 
are required by the circumstances attending the case." 

Scene VII. — At the residence of Don Jose Callava, 
Colonel in the Spanish army and ex-Governor of Pensacola. 
Of the scenes that there transpired we have several ac- 
counts, two of which shall here be given. The official 
report, signed by Colonel Butler and Dr. Bronaugh, is as 
follows : 

"We proceeded to the house of Colonel Callava, who waa 
absent, but again returning to his house shortly after we found 
him accompanied by a number of Spanish officers clothed with 
their side arms, and Mr. John Innerarity in the porch. The 
demand was formally made of the documents enumerated in 
your order and peremptorily refused, when he was informed 
that his refusal would be considered as settinsr at defiance the 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 623 

authority exercised by you as Grovernor of the Floridas in the 
execution of the laws ; and they were again demanded, and 
the consequences of refusal on his part enumerated, but in 
which refusal he still persisted, and we Avere about taking 
our leave to prepare for the final execution of your order 
when Colonel Callava declared that if we would furnish 
him with a copy of the memorandum setting forth the 
documents required he would deliver tliem to us, to which 
we assented, 

" The alcalde, H. M. Brackenridge, accordingly waited on 
him with a copy of the memorandum herewith accompanied, 
and informed him that he would call in two hours for the re- 
ception of the documents as promised. We proceeded at the 
appointed time and found the gate and front part of the house 
closed. The former we opened by removing a bar, and on 
reaching the latter a considerable stir seemed to be made in 
the house. We knocked several times without receiving any 
answer, when admittance was demanded in the name of the 
Governor in three instances, still without reply. The guard 
was then ordered to advance and form in front of the house, 
and part detached to the rear, when it was discovered that 
the back door was open, and several Spanish officers, with 
Mr. Innerarity, were in the porch. We inquired for Colonel 
Callava, to which we were answered they did not know where 
he was. Lights were procured, and the rooms searched, when 
Colonel Callava was found on his bed, divested of his coat. 
Demand was then made of the dociunents, agreeably to his 
promise, and to our astonishment they were still refused, and 
several attempts were made on his part to show that he was 
not amenable to the laws ; to which he was answered that 
the Governor was, in the execution of the laws, bound to de- 
mand the papers, as they appertained to the rights and prop- 
erty of individuals resident in Pensacola, and that formal 
complaint had been made that they were improperly with- 
held, and that the Governor knew no distinction between 
Colonel Callava and any other man under his government. 
We then proposed that Colonel Callava should deliver the 



624 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

papers, and he should have our receipt for them, which was 
also refused. We then again demanded them, reiterating our 
eentiments, that his refusal would he viewed as an act of open 
mutiny to the civil authority exercised in the Floridas, and 
that he must expect the consequences. He persisted to re- 
fuse, and the officer of the guard was ordered to take him and 
his steward Fullarat into custody and bring them before your 
excellency, which is now done. We would add, in conclu- 
sion, that Colonel Callava repeatedly asserted that he would 
not be taken out of his house alive, but he seemed to act 
without much difficulty when the guard was ordered to 
prime and load, A corporal and three men were detached 
to remain and guard the house of Colonel Callava, and to 
prevent the removal of the boxes which had contained the 
documents, and which Mr. Brackenridge recognized in the 
bed-room." 

Such is the American narrative. Colonel Callava shall 
now give us his version. We shall at least learn from it that 
there are two ways of telling the same thing. Colonel Callava 
may as well tell his whole story, although the reader is already 
acquainted with part of it. It is not every day that we have 
the pleasure of perusing so peculiar a piece of composition. 

" At four in the afternoon," says Colonel Callava, " and not much before, 
I was dining at the table of Colonel George M. Brooke, of the fourth regi- 
ment of the United States line, and of the garrison at Pensacola, by whom 
I had been invited with all the Spanish officers residing there. Don Do- 
mingo Sousa presented himself to me, with an officer of the United States, 
telling me that he was a prisoner, and that the reason was that the three 
persons of the former day had returned to his house the day before, telling 
him that they came with orders from Governor Andrew Jackson to seize 
the papers ; that having informed them that he had that morning sent them 
to my house, they searched his house, and at last carried him to prison ; 
and he related, before the company, what had occurred about the papers 
with the same persons the preceding day. 

" I immediately ordered my aide-de-camp, Don Bernardo Prieto, accom- 
panied by Alma, who was the public interpreter, to present my compliments 
to Don Andrew Jackson, and to inform him that Sousa was in fact, as he 
had intimated, an individual of my commission, and was under my power 



1S21.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 625 

and authority ; and that he could not deliver the papers in question of him- 
self. That if he would have the goodness to ask me in writing for such as 
he might find it proper to claim, and if they were to be given by the regu- 
lation of the treaty, or other particular circumstances, I would deliver them 
to him by the same procedure which indispensable regularity dictated, as 
had been done with the other papers; or that he should have, in the same 
way, a distinct explanation of the reasons which prevented their delivery, 
and that every direct mode of conciliation should be sought, if there was 
any thing that could be of use to him in any way. 

" The aide-de-camp and interpreter brought back for answer that Sousa 
should go to prison, and that they should tell me, that I sJiould be put into 
another dungeon with him. 

" It appearing to me that Don Andrew Jackson had not been well in- 
formed of my message by the interpretation (although the incident offended 
me and surprised those at table), I made the same persons return and in- 
form him a second time ; and that gentleman repeated to them in a loud 
voice, in presence of several persons, and upon the street balcony, the same 
thing, saying, ' Colonel Callava to the dungeon.^ 

" An occun-ence so strange and abusive in the presence of those who 
surrounded me at table, a great part of whom were there as a greater com- 
pliment to me, and others, my subordinates, could not but raise a blush in 
my face, and disorder my stomach in the very act of eating, and in the con- 
valescent state in which 1 was ; and I felt myself attacked by a deadly 
pain (which I almost habitually suffered, and which had frequently at- 
tacked me on the preceding days ;) notwithstanding, I concealed the cir- 
cumstance so as to render it impossible to be discovered ; that upon quitting 
the table I might go and reflect, for it was not known upon what such an- 
swers or occurrences rested. 

" We all left the table. Brooke's lady was very much grieved ; and I 
was going to the street, when three persons presented themselves to me in 
Brooke's house, telling me, from Don Andrew Jackson, that they came for 
the papers which Sousa had carried to my house, or to carry me with them 
to Jackson's house ; because the Governor, with his authority could not re- 
spect me in any other light than as a private individual. 

" Astonished to find myself involved in such events, with expressive 
actions I intreated them to do me the honor of returning to the Commis- 
sary Governor with my compUments, asking him how he could forget that 
I was the Spanish commissary who had delivered to him that province, 
and whom he had found. as governor in it, and who at the same time had 
not been removed by his government, nor concluded the deUvery, nor with- 
drawn the artillery, (the destination of which was expected), nor of other 
things under my power ? That I was surprised at what passed between 
us ; "that he would have the goodness to reflect that every paper in my pos- 
VOL. H. — 40 



626 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

session, on that day^ belonged to the government which I had exercised 
in that province, and was sacred, under my authority and character, by 
the privilege of the law of nations, which has always been mutually 
observed and respected among nations; and it ia a thing unknown that 
any authority has forcibly violated a trust so sacred, without cause or 
reason ; that whatever paper he might wish to ask, he might demand of 
me in writing. 

" Tlie officers went away to carry this answer, which was given them 
in the presence of all at Brooke's house ; and I, feeling now a recurrence 
cf my pain, requested them to permit me to go home, whither several of 
those persons accompanied me. As soon as I arrived, I caused my secre- 
tiiry to extend in my office all that I had said to the persons sent, and 
•with him I sent Lieutenant Colonel de Villiers, accompanied by another 
officer, to the Governor, thinking that thus my answer might be more cor- 
rectly understood by him ; but, when it was presented he would not re- 
ceive it, and they brought it back to me unopened. 

" After these officers returned to me, now at my own house, the same 
three persons came Avith a determined and brief message that I must not 
make any pretensions to official situation or other considerations — ' the papers, 
or go with them.' I was surrounded by my officers, and other persons of 
character, whose countenances I saw filled with pain and surprise to see 
me in the sad state of suffering and unable to remain tranquil. Till then 
I knew not of what papers they spoke, as I had not entered upon an in- 
quiry, nor had they given me an opportunity of doing so ; and I answered 
them that I was unable to go out of my house. I intreated that they 
would, at least, give me an abstract of what papers and of what class those 
were which they demanded, and I would inform Don Andrew Jackson 
that I was sick. 

" Without giving me any answer they went away, and I laid myself 
on the bed. An hour afterwards one of the three presented himself in my 
house, and gave me an abstract, witten on a half sheet of paper, in the 
Enghsh language, and signed Alcalde Brackenridge. I took it ; I told him 
that I should have it translated, and should reply to it; he went away; I 
gave it to the interpreter at that hour, which was nine at night, and sought 
repose on the bed ; but, a while after, and without further preUminaries, a 
party of troops, with the commissioners, assaulted the house, breaking the 
fence, (notwithstanding the door was open), and the commissionera entered 
my apartment ; they surrounded my bed with soldiers with drawn bay- 
onets in their hands, they removed the mosquito net, they made me sit 
up, and demanded the papers^ or they would use the arms against my person, 

" It ought to be remarked that, of the three, only one spoke and under- 
stood a little of the Spanish language; he was the only interpreter, and I 
neither speak nor understood one word of English, and thus I neither kn«\v 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. G27 

what he said to his companions respecting wliat I answered, nor did they 
know wliat was aslvcd me. I had to do witli him alone, and he was one 
who had gone and returned with them in all their visit?. Some officers 
and other persons who had accompanied me from the house of Brooke, and 
who had not yet retired, and were seated in the gallery of the house, leav- 
ing me to repose, entered the room, and I answered, in their presence, that 
the note had not yet been returned translated, but that this was of no con- 
sequence; that there were all the boxes containing papers, my trunks and all 
my house ; that, since force had once openly been used in their demand, they 
there had every thing at their disposal without any resistance on my part; 
but that, before they should proceed to take what they thought lit, I re- 
presented to them that now, since my person was not secure as a free man, 
and in a free country, in the asylum of my house, and in the dead of tlie 
night, and that what ought to be preserved to my nation was not rcspcct^;d 
in my official situation and character, I laid tliese things before the govern- 
ment of the United States, and took refuge under their laws, and hoped 
that they would respect both. 

" They did not proceed to search for papers, nor did they move any 
further question about them when they now saw them at their disposal ; 
but they ordered the troops to carry arms, leave me alone, and send from 
my house those who assisted and accompanied me. This they did, and 
to one who appeared desirous to interpret in English what I had said for 
their better understanding, they intimated, with threats, that he should be 
silent as soon as he had begun, and I continued alone sitting on the bed, 
and they in the apartment looking at each other. 

" In fine, a short while after one of the three went out, and returned 
accompanied with an officer, who, placing himself before me, told me I 
was a prisoner, and ordered me to dress myself. I answered that I was 
so, but that he would have the goodness to observe that I was so sick 
that I ought not to be taken out of my house at that hour. He made no 
answer to the interpreter, and remained silent ; but one of the three de- 
liberately ordered me to dress. I dressed in my uniform, was going to 
put on rtiy sword, but, upon reflection, thought it better to deliver it to 
the officer. I did so, and one of the three took it from his hand and threw 
it upon the chimney, and in this manner I was conducted through the 
streets among the troops." 

Scene VIII. — Again at the office of General Jackson, 
Time, about ten in the evening. Present, a great crowd of 
excited spectators. Colonel Callava, the Alcalde, Colonel 
Butler, and Dr. Bronaugh, enter the apartment, and General 
Jackson politely waves Colonel Callava to a seat. What 



628 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

occurred on this occasion was circumstantially recorded at 
the time by Judge Brackenridge. 

" On entering the Governor's ofBce, Colonel Callava was invited to take 
a Beat, which he did at the table fronting the Governor, while I was seated 
at one end of it, in the capacity of interpreter. The Governor then re- 
quested me to say to Colonel Callava that he was brought before him to 
answer interrogatories touching certain papers which had been delivered 
at his house by Domingo Sousa in boxes, according to the confession of 
Sousa, and a list of the papers was read. This was fully and faithfully in- 
terpreted to him in the presence of Mr. Kutledge, of Mr. Cruzat, the secre- 
tary of Colonel Callava, both of whom understood the Spanish and English 
languages well. Colonel Callava on this rose, and, looking at his watch, 
said that it was then ten o'clock ; that, at that hour, he had been violently 
taken from his house ; that he protested against the proceeding ; that he 
was commissioner of Spain, and was not answerable as a private indi- 
vidual. 

" When this was interpreted, the Governor declared that he would hear 
no protest against his authority while sitting in his judicial capacity ; that 
he could not know him as commissioner, and then ordered me to propound 
the question (whether he had the papers) which he had just written. 

" Colonel Callava repeated in substance what he had said before, but 
with more prolixity and warmth. After some time passed in this way, he 
said he would yield to compulsion, but would answer only in his own lan- 
guage and in his own way. When this was granted, he began to write, 
and after writing a few hues complained that his eyes were weak, and re- 
quested that his secretary might write, which was granted. He then dic- 
tated to Mr. Cruzat something in the shape of a protest, as a preliminary, 
as I understood, to his answering the question. After writing five or six 
lines, it was observed by H. Bigelow, Esq., who happened to be standing 
near the Governor, that he was dictating a protest. The Governor, on 
this, with considerable warmth, striking on the table and addressing him- 
self to me, said : 

" 'Why do you not tell him, sir, that I will not permit him to protest?' 

" Which was intended as a reprimand to me for suffering Colonel Cal- 
lava to proceed in this way, when he was repeatedly told that such a 
course would not be allowed. Colonel Callava then stopped, and liis sec- 
retary left off writing in the middle of a word. I was now called upon to 
put the interrogatory, and to say that none but a direct answer would be 
received. I called upon Mr. Cruzat to assist in interpreting, feeling great 
anxiety that there should be no misunderstanding, but he declined. The 
question was then repeated in the manner I have certified in the proceed- 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 629 

ings. (Had he, or had he not, the papers at his house ?) It was fully and 
clearly explained to him. Much was said by way of enforcing the ques- 
tion on the one side, and of the objections on the other to answering, all 
of whicli I did not consider myself called on to explain ; and, in fact, it was 
not possible : there was considerable warmth on both sides, ami there was 
frequently not sufficient interval between what was said to enable me to 
convey more than the substance of what was thus spoken by way of argu- 
ments, while much of it consisted of repetitions. When, at last^ Colonel 
Callava found that he would not be permitted to answer in the manner he 
thought proper, he declined answering at all. 

" The steward, Fullarat, was then called up, and Colonel Callava ob- 
jected to his being examined, on the ground that he was not of sufficient 
age. Some time was also employed with this examination : he answered 
that the boxes spoken of by Sousa had been deUvered to him, and were 
then in Colonel Callava's house. The Governor, after the close of FuUa- 
rat's testimony, said, in a very deliberate and impressive manner, ' that the 
papers had been seen in the possession of Sousa ; that Sousa had acknowl- 
edged that they were delivered to the steward in the same boxes, and, by 
his declaration, were proved to be in Colonel Callava's house.' The proof 
was therefore complete that the papers were in Colonel Callava's posses- 
sion, and he was there called upon to deliver them : he was told that an 
officer would be sent with some one he should name, and bring the boxes ; 
that he might open them in the presence of the Governor, and the papers 
specified surrendered. 

" This was distinctly made known to Callava by me ; and the Governor 
called upon Callava's friends, among whom was Mr. Innerarity, and who 
were acquainted with both languages, to explain it welL I was occasion- 
ally assisted by Mr. Rutledge, and every pains were taken that this part of 
the subject should be clearly explained. His answer proved that he did 
understand it. He repeated what he had said before, that he could not 
deliver the papers unless demanded of him as commissioner, or late Gov- 
ernor ; that they could not be in his hands as a private individual ; that he 
could not say whether they were in his possession or not ; enforcing the 
same positions with a variety of other reasons, and of which I interpreted 
as much as I could ; among them, he said, that he could only be tried by a 
tribunal de residencia, which, at first, I did not exactly comprehend, until 
explained by Mr. Innerarity, at my request, to mean a court specially ap- 
pointed to try governors of provinces, etc., not amenable to the ordinary 
tribunals. The Governor, in the same manner, enforced his demand of 
the papers by a variety of reasons ; he observed they were such papers aa 
were contemplated by the second article of the treaty, which Avas read to 
him ; that it was his duty to see, for the safety of the inhabitants and the 
protection of their rights, that all papers relating to the property of indi- 



630 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

viduals should be left. The oonversation, as is natural, was warm on both 
sides, and some expressions were softened by me in the interpretation, an«I 
others, tending only to irritate and provoke, omitted altogether. These 
were principally the appeals of Colonel Callava to the bystanders, which 
were frequent, loud, and inflammatory. And, on the part of the Governor, 
strong expressions against what he considered a combination between him 
and others to withdraw the evidences of the right of properry required by 
individuals, which combination I understood, and so expressed it, to be 
between Colonel Callava, Sousa, and the steward Fullarat, but which seemed 
to excite some indignation, as he said, ' Souza is my domestic, my servant, 
he is nothing in this business.' 

" The Governor did at one time remind him of tlie fact that the testa- 
mentary papers of Vidal had been, by liis own decree, ordered to be re- 
stored to the office, whence, as he expressed it, ' they had been stolen.^ As 
this expression had no allusion to Colonel Callava, and, as I was not par- 
ticularly called upon to interpret it, I supplied its place by a milder term. 
I considered the expression as dictated by a high sense of the injustice said 
to have been done the heirs of Vidal in withholding the papers, and as ex- 
pressive of astonishment that Colonel Callava, who had compelled the res- 
toration of those very papers to the office whence they had been taken, should 
think of carrying them out of the country after he had obtained possession 
of them. In the course of these remarks the Governor reminded Colonel 
Cavalla of his having promised to deliver the papers if found in the boxes. 
Here Colonel Callava exclaimed, ' It is false !' meaning that he had never 
made any such promise, but which was mistaken by the bystanders. I 
stated that Colonel Callava denied the promise, and that it was possible that 
I might have misunderstood him, which drew from the Governor an ex- 
pression of displeasure. In a strong tone of voice he asked, ' Why then, sir, 
were you not more cautious?' Words which proceeded only from the irrita- 
tion of the moment, while he was almost sinking with fatigue ; it was then 
midnight, and he had been sitting, with scarcely any interval, from ten or 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon. After the lapse of two hours the Governor 
rose from his seat, and called upon me distinctly to state that Colonel Cal- 
lava must deliver the papers, or abide by the consequences; he, at the 
same time, called upon the friends of Colonel Callava who understood En- 
ghsh to explain to him his situation. It was fully explained to him. This 
was several times repeated, and at length a blank commitment, which had 
bAen prepared in case of necessity, was signed, and Colonel Callava com- 
mitted to prison." 

The Spanish oflBcers who witnessed this extraordinary 
scene were amazed at the demeanor of the Grovernor — as well 
they might be. "The Governor, Don Andrew Jackson/' 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. G31 

wrote one of them, "with turbulent and violent actions, with 
disjointed reasonings, blows on the table, his mouth foaming, 
and possessed with the furies, told the S})anish commissary 
to deliver the papers as a private individual ; and the Spanish 
commissary, with the most forcible expressions, answered 
him that he (the commissary) did not resist the delivery of 
papers, because he still did not know what papers were de- 
manded of him ; that, as soon as he could know it, if they 
were to be delivered, he Avould deliver them most cheerfully ; 
and that, if papers were demanded of him which he ought not 
to deliver, he would resist it by the regular and prescribed 
means ; that all these questions were not put to him in writ- 
ing ; that his answers were the same as he had given to every 
interrogatory which had been put to him, because he was not 
permitted to write in his own defense ; and also, that he 
would answer for the future consistency of it, as well as what 
had been asked of him, and all that had been done to him ; 
that he wished for this protection of the law to every man ; 
and that he would never yield. 

" The Governor, Don Andrew Jackson, furious, did not 
permit the interpreter to translate what the Spanish com- 
missary answered, that the bystanders, it appears, might not 
understand it ; and the interpreter made such short transla- 
tions that what the Spanish commissary took two minutes to 
explain he reduced to only two words ; and that, when the 
Grovernor gave him time enough, (as has been since related 
by various persons who spoke both languages), of what the 
Spanish commissary said, not even half was interpreted, and 
that little not faithfully. Lastly, the Governor, Don Andrew 
Jackson, after having insulted the Spanish commissary with 
atrocious words, took out an order, already written, and made 
the interpreter read it, and it contained the order for his im- 
prisonment. 

" The Spanish commissary said that he obeyed it, but asJced 
if the Governor, Don Andrew Jackson, was not afraid to put 
in execution deeds so unjust against a man like him ; and, 
rising to his feet, he addressed himself to the secretary, whom 



632 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821, 

the Governor kept on his right hand, and said, in a loud voice, 
that he protested solemnly, before the government of the 
United States, against the author of the violations of justice 
against his person and public character. 

" The Governor, Don Andrew Jackson, answered to the 
protest that for his actions he was responsible to no other 
than io his government, and that it was of little importance 
to him whatever might be the result, and that he might even 
protest before God himself." 

Scene IX. — After midnight. An unenclosed place in 
Pensacola, with a narrow, low, small brick building in the 
midst thereof, similar in size and appearance to an old brick 
stable. This building was the calaboose. It had served, for 
some time, as a guard-house ; giving shelter to twenty or 
thirty Spanish soldiers, whose occupation of it had not im- 
proved its appearance within or without. In short, the cala- 
boose was as forlorn, dirty and uncomfortable an edifice as 
can be imagined. It contained two prisoners. Lieutenant 
Sousa and a young man from New Jersey, who had been 
arrested for shooting a snipe on the common, contrary to 
orders. Colonel Callava, his major domo, and all the Span- 
ish officers in the town, escorted by Lieutenant Mountz and 
a file of American troops, arrive at the calaboose. All the 
Spaniards enter. Sentinels are posted outside. 

Upon getting within the calaboose, Colonel Callava, who 
was really a good fellow, was seized with a sense of the ludi- 
crousness of his situation, and communicated the same to his 
officers. Peals of laughter were heard within the calaboose. 
Clothes, chairs, cots, beds, were sent for and brought in, also 
a superabundant supply of provisions, including cigars, claret 
and champaigne. There was a popping of corks and a gurg- 
gling of wine. There were songs, jokes, imitations of the fiery 
Governor, and great merriment. In short, Colonel Callava 
and his officers made a night of it. 



^&' 



Scene X. — Very early the next morning. At the resi- 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 633 

dence of Judge Fromcntin. " My house/' wrote the Judge 
to the Secretary of State, " was soon filled with people of all 
descriptions and languages," and all were clamoring for his 
interference in behalf of the imprisoned ex-Governor. But 
what could he do ? How procure even a copy of the warrant 
upon which Callava had been arrested ? In the course of the 
morning four Spanish gentlemen of the highest respectability, 
among whom were Innerarity and two Catholic priests, made 
a formal demand of a writ of habeas corpus for the deliver- 
ance of Callava. " Although," continued Judge Fromcntin, 
" I do not believe a word of what is attempted to be laid in the 
charge of Colonel Callava, yet, in consequence of the state of 
agitation into which the whole country was thrown, I deemed 
it a duty under the discretionary power vested in all the judges, 
who have a right to grant the writ of habeas corpus, to require 
security, and I informed the friends of Colonel Callava who 
applied to me for the writ that I would, before setting Colo- 
nel Callava at liberty, require security for the production be- 
fore me of the papers said to be in his possession. Security 
was offered to any amount. I mentioned forty thousand dol- 
lars ; Colonel Callava himself in twenty thousand, and the 
two securities in ten thousand dollars each. Mr. Lama and 
Mr. Innerarity agreed to become securities. I then issued 
the writ and delivered it to be served on the officer who 
had the guard of the prison where Colonel Callava was con- 
fined." 

That officer courteously received the writ, but observed 
that no notice would be taken of it. He handed the document 
to his superior officer, who conveyed it to Governor Jackson. 

Scene XI. — Office of General Jackson. Present, the Gen- 
eral, the alcalde, and various American officere and citizens. 
The question now occurred. What next ? Callava was in 
prison, Sousa was in prison, Fullarat was in prison ; but the 
PAPERS were still in a sealed and corded box at Callava's 
house. Pensacola had, so far, been convulsed to no purpose. 
The learned alcalde then suggested that the next thing to do 



634 LIFE or ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

was to send commissioners to the residence of Colonel Callava 
take the papers out of the box, and bring them to the Gov- 
ernor. The suggestion was approved and adopted. The com- 
missioners soon returned with the papers. The object of the 
Governor was accomplished. 

The question again arose, What next .? Obviously, the 
discharge of the prisoners. This proposal also met the 
Governor's approbation. The order for the discharge was 
written, signed, and about to be issued, when, what should 
the Governor receive but the writ of habeas corpus granted 
by Judge Fromentin ! Fire and fury ! Terrible was the 
wrath of General Jackson at this interference with his pro- 
ceedings. The order for the discharge of the prisoners, how- 
ever, was issued, and Callava was conducted to his house and 
released. Sousa, Fullarat and the snipe-shooter were also set 
free. With regard to Judge Fromentin, the General caused 
the following document to be drawn and served : 

"Elijius Fromentin, Esq., will forthwith be and appear 
before me to show cause why he has attempted to interfere 
with my authority as Governor of the Floridas, exercising the 
powers of the Captain General and Intendant of the island of 
Cuba over the said provinces, and of the Governors of said 
provinces respectively ; in my judicial cajmcity as supreme 
judge over the same, and as chancellor thereof, having com- 
mitted certain individuals, charged with a combination to 
secrete, and of having attempted to secrete, and carry out 
of the territories ceded to the United States, the evidence 
of mdividual right to property within the said territories, 
which has been secured to each individual under the second 
article of the late treaty with Spain, and in open contempt 
of the orders and decrees made by me. And that the said 
Ehjms Fromentin, Esq., be and appear before me, at my 
office, at five o'clock p. m., in Pensacola, to make known the 
above cause, and to abide by and perform such order and de- 
cree as the undersigned may of right deem proper to make of 
and concerning the same." 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALLABOOSE. 635 

Scene XII. — Judge Froraentin did not appear at the office 
ol General Jackson at five p. m., but sent an excuse to the 
effect that he was suffering under so severe an attack of rheu- 
matism that he coukl not walk. He waited, during the even- 
ing, in momentary expectation of being carried away to the 
calaboose by a file of soldiers. That felicity was denied him, 
however, and he slept undisturbed. 

" The next day," says Judge Fromentin in his official nar- 
rative, " about noon. Colonel Walton returned, and observed 
that both the General and myself must be desirous of making 
a report of this affiiir to the government by the next mail ; 
that there was no time to be lost ; and that it was the Gen- 
eral's wish that I should call at his office the next day, in the 
morning. After the colonel had withdrawn, I reflected that 
the state of things was now somewhat different from what it 
was the day befin-e ; a reason was assigned for my having an 
interview with the General, the force of which I felt ; and 
ultimately a longer resistance would only end in affording 
General Jackson the scandalous triumph of once more tramp- 
ling upon the laws of his country. I determined to go there 
that very afternoon, and accordingly, at four o'clock p. m., I 
went to the office of General Jackson. The conversation, as 
you may suppose, was nearly all on one side, not unmixed 
with threats of what" he said he had a right to do for my hav- 
iuo- dared to interfere with his authority. He asked me 
whether I would dare to issue a writ to be served upon the 
Captain General of the island of Cuba ? I told him, no ; 
but that if the case should require it, and I had the necessary 
iurisdiction, I would issue one to be served upon the Presi- 
dent of the United States. Ultimately, he wished to know 
the names of the persons who had applied for the writ of ^a&eas 
corpus. I unhesitatingly told them to him Then he wished 
to know whether they had made the usual affidavit, statmg 
that they had been refused a copy of the wai-rant upon which 
Colonel Callava was confined. I told him, no ; that the ap- 
plication to me was a verbal one. General J'^ckson then re- 
quired me to sign what I had just declared ; I told him I was 



636 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

ready to do it, and I did it accordingly ; Dr. Bronaugh, who 
was present at the conversation, having reduced that part of 
it to writing. Much more was said by the G-eneral respecting 
the extent of his powers, the happy selection made of him by 
the President, the hope that no living man should ever in 
future be clothed with such extraordinary authority. How 
fortunate it was for the poor that a man of his feelings had 
been placed at the head of the government, etc., etc., etc., etc., 
the whole intermixed with, or rather consisting altogether of 
the most extravagant praises of himself, and the most savage 
and unmerited abuse of Colonel Callava, and of myself for 
doing my duty in attempting to set him at liberty. The first 
time the authority of General Jackson is contested, I should 
not be surprised if, to all the pompous titles by him enumer- 
ated in his order to me, he should superadd that of grand in- 
quisitor, and if, finding in my library many books formerly 
prohibited in Spain, and among others the Constitution of 
the United States, he should send me to the stake." 

Other accounts represent this scene to have been an ex- 
tremely stormy one. General Jackson himself says that he 
gave the Judge a "lecture" which he hoped he would remem- 
ber ; and, in his dispatch to the Secretary of State, he de- 
nounces the hapless Judge in terms of unmeasured severity. 
" For poor Sousa and Fullarat," wrote the General, "Judge 
Fromentin seems to have had no bowels of compassion. They 
might have perished and rotted in prison before he would 
have stepped forward, with the sanction of his authority, for 
their deliverance. The fact was, they had no wealth or influ- 
ence, and the Judge was not, consequently, clothed with the 
power to issue a writ of habeas corpus for their relief. 
Agreeably to his principles, the laws of the United States are 
only made for the punishment of the humble and penniless ; 
but whenever opposed to wealth and power they must either 
remain inoperative, or, if enforced, it must be done with great 
delicacy and respect. This course of proceeding may very 
well comport with the corrupt and inquisitorial system of 
former Spanish tribunals, but they are clearly and palpably 



1821.] COL. CALLAVA IN THE CALABOOSE. 637 

unjust, and merit the unqualified reprobation of every honest 
and intelligent American. I can assure you tliat, so far as I 
have been enabled to collect an expression of public sentiment 
relative to the conduct of Judge Fromentin, it has evidently 
rendered him so odious and contemptible that his name is 
only mentioned in genteel circles to be deprecated and de- 
spised. It is considered so flagrant and flagitious a departure 
from justice and propriety as seriously to impair his stand- 
ing, and ratlier to produce disafiection than insphe respect 
and confidence in the American authorities in Florida. 



" Elevated as he was, I had hoped that I should meet 
with a manly feeling and lofty integrity corresponding with 
his honorable station, but I sincerely regret to say that he 
has displayed a want of honesty and candor only becoming 
an apostate priest, and which is enough to suffuse the cheek 
of depravity itself with a blush. I may, perhaps, express my 
indignation upon this subject with too much freedom. If the 
language is harsh, I am willing to acknowledge that it does 
not altogether become me, but I am not convinced that it is 
not merited in its application." 

Finale. — A few days after his liberation Colonel Callava 
left Florida for Washington, to protest against the indignity 
done him. Several of his officers who remained behind pub- 
lished a statement of the late proceedings ; in the course of 
which they said that " none of the interrogatories and highly 
offensive accusations of the General were faithfully inter- 
preted to Colonel Callava, any more than the replies of the 
latter to the former. It was therefore out of the power of 
our chief, not knowing what was said to him, to make the 
auditory understand how innocent he was of tlie foul charges 
with which his unsullied honor was endeavored to be stained." 
They also observed that they " shuddered" at the \dolent and 
tyrannical course of General Jackson. 

Upon reading this statement, (which was, in fact, a reply 



638 LIFE OF A-NDBEW JACKSON. [1821. 

to one issued on the part of the Governor,) General Jackson 
puhlishcd a proclamation to the following effect : "Whereas, 
the said publication is calculated to excite resistance to the 
existing government of the Floridas, and to disturb the har- 
mony, peace, and good order of the same, as well as to weaken 
the allegiance enjoined by my proclamation, heretofore pub- 
lished, and entirely incompatible with any privileges which 
could have been extended to the said officers, even if permis- 
sion had been expressly given to remain in the said province, 
and, under existing circumstances, a gross abuse of the lenity 
and indulgence heretofore extended to them : 

" This is therefore to make known to the said officers to 
withdraw themselves, as they ought heretofore to have done, 
from the Floridas, agreeably to the said seventh article, on 
or before the third day of October next ; after which day, if 
they, or any of them, shall be found within the Floridas, all 
officers, civil and military, are hereby required to arrest and 
secure them, so that they may be brought before me, to be 
dealt with according to law, for contempt and disobedience 
of this my proclamation." 

This proclamation allowed the officers four days in which 
to prepare for their departure. They sailed on the fourth 
day, leaving behind them for insertion in the Floridian 
another protest ; which, that paper refusing to publish, found 
its way into the columns of the National Intelligencer. 
" We are induced to obey the Governor's orders," said the 
banished officers, " neither by the terror of his prisons, nor 
by the dread of the many vexations which a judge so despotic 
as he has shown himself to be is capable to exercise against 
us — a judge glutting at every expense the vengeance excited 
in his breast by the firm and courageous manner with which 
our worthy superior, Don Jose Callava, main.tained his own 
dignity, and treated with merited contempt his furious and 
inconceivable outrages." 

They added that they left the province to assist Colonel 
Callava in getting before the world and the two governments 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 639 

interested the whole truth respecting General Jackson's arbi- 
trary and indecen't conduct. 

And so ended this comedy of much ado ahout less than 
nothing. 

I say less than nothing. To he exact, I may add, one 
hundred and fifty-seven dollars less than nothing. For, upon 
a legal examination of the papers and evidence in the case of 
the heirs of Vidal against Forbes & Co., it appeared that the 
estate of the deceased Vidal, after the payment of all claims 
against it, \\Si^* indebted to the house of Forbes eh Co. in the 
sum of one hundred and fifty-seven dollars I ! ! 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE NEW HERMITAGE AND ITS INMATES. 

Home again on the 3d of November. The administra- 
tion still sustained him — though Mr. Adams said afterwards 
to a friend, who repeated the remark to me, that he dreaded 
the arrival of a mail from Florida, not knowing what Gen- 
eral Jackson might do next ; and knowing well that what- 
ever he might do the Secretary of State was the individual 
who would have to explain it away to the Spanish govern- 
ment. 

" Since my arrival at home," wrote General Jackson to 
Judge Brackenridge in November, " I have received a very 
friendly letter from Mr. Monroe, in which he has expressed 
his satisfaction in my having placed you in the office of al- 
calde; and from the manner he speaks of you, I have no doubt 
but he is -disposed to extend to you any kindness in his gift, 

* Documents relating to the misunderstanding between General Jackson and 
Judge Fromentin, p. 266. The same volume, which is a solid octavo of 325 pages, 
contains the whole story of the arrest of Callava, and all the correspondence re- 
latiug to it 



640 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

as he speaks of your talents and merits as they deserve. By 
yesterday's mail from the East I received a letter from Mr. 
Adams, Secretary of State, accompanied with the Callava 
protest, Mr. Salmon's (Charge des Affaires of Spain) letter to 
Mr. Adams, and Mr. Adams' letter to the minister of Spain 
in reply to Mr. Salmon, and a copy of a letter to Judge Fro- 
mentin, copies of which are herewith inclosed to Colonel 
Walton, with instructions to present them to you for your 
perusal. All things, you will see, are as they ought to be ; 
and Judge Fromentin's jurisdiction explained to extend 
merely to the two acts of Congress extended over the Flori- 
das, as I explained to him. His honor will find that his 
active and despicable conduct in aid of that base and unprin- 
cipled man Callava, will not elevate him in the view of the 
American nation, however it may have benefited his pockets. 
Mr. Adams' letter is just like himself — a bold, manly, and 
dignified refutation of falsehood, and justification of justice 
and moral rule. I know you will be pleased with it ; and I 
would be pleased that Mr. Smith should see it and the letter 
to Judge Fromentin ; it will have a good effect." 

The country judged the General's proceedings in Florida 
yery leniently. Congress talked the matter over a little, an- 
nulled some of the Grovernor's acts, but did nothing worthy of 
particular record. The following is a sample of the comments 
of the press upon the banishment of the Spanish officers : 
" We feel," said the National Advocate, a New York paper, 
" toward General Jackson all the respect and gratitude which 
his great and eminent services deserve ; and, without the least 
disposition to cavil or find ftiult, we can not approve of the 
above proclamation any more than with the proceedings as to 
Colonel Callava. . . . What, then, has been the conduct 
of these officers ? They have published a defense of their 
former commander. Colonel Callava, and under a government, 
and in a territory where the freedom of the press and of speech 
prevails ; and for this they are prescribed, ordered to quit the 
territory, and if found in Florida after the 3d of October they 
we to be seized and brought before the American ' Captain 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 641 

General of Cuba/ and ' to be dealt with according to law.' 
We don't understand this new system of government, and caa 
not conceive that there is danger in permitting these Span- 
iards to say what they think, or what they please." 

The vast majority of the peojile, however, received the 
impression that General Jackson had only acted with his 
usual energy and promptitude, and that the pulling of one 
Spanish nose more or less was a consideration of very little 
importance. 

Moreover, the public dispatches of General Jackson ex- 
hibited him in the always engaging light of a defender of the 
weak against the powerful. " I did believe," said he, in one 
of these documents, "and ever will believe, that just laws 
can make no distinction of privilege between the rich and the 
poor. And that, when men of high standing attempt to 
trample upon the rights of the weak they are the fittest ob- 
jects for example and punishment. In general the great can 
protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm 
and the shield of the law. Colonel Callava's powers having 
ceased here with the surrender of the country, it was only a 
display, and so considered by me, of pompous arrogance and 
ignorance, in his claiming the privileges of diplomacy, which, 
in fact, he never possessed, and his powers having ceased, his 
commission accomplished, the pretension which he set up was 
an insult to the weakest understanding." 

Seven persons in ten accepted this version of the facts, 
as General Jackson himself did. 

It is not the business of the biographer to comment upon 
the acts of his subject, though he may do so if he will. Every 
reader perceives that the conduct of General Jackson in this 
aifair was well-intentioned, hasty and wrong. As a soldier, 
he should have respected the honorable scruples of Lieutenant 
Sousa, and applied respectfully to Colonel Callava for tha 
papers which Colonel Callava alone could lawfully deliver. 
He should have been patient with the respectable Callava, 
and allowed time for him to comprehend what was required. 
Even in the last extremity, he should have forborne to put so 

VOL. II. 41 



642 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821, 

gross an indignity upon an honorable soldier and worthy gen- 
tleman as to thrust him into the place appointed for the safe- 
keeping of felons. If arrest was necessary, how easy to con- 
fine him to his own house. It is evident that Colonel Callava 
had no ill intention in retaining the Vidal papers, but was 
bursting with willingness to give them up, if they proved to 
be of the character attributed to them. Vidal had been a 
Spanish officer and, consequently, the papers relating to his 
estate were placed with those of the military tribunal, and 
neither Sousa nor Callava had the slightest interest in keeping 
or concealing them. The papers, as we have seen, proved to 
be valueless. 

The real sinners in this business were Old Prejudice and 
Chronic Diarrhea. The prejudice of General Jackson against 
Spaniards was a thing of forty years' growth. He expected 
perfidy from a Spanish governor ; and an expectation of that 
kind very easily becomes conviction. If you think a man is a 
horse-thief, you resent his looking at your stable. The dis- 
ease, too, under which the governor labored is one which 
inflames the temper and relaxes self-control, nourishes sus- 
picion and kills charity. Nevertheless, after giving due 
weight to these extenuating circumstances, many readers will 
feel that General Jackson's treatment of Sousa, Callava, and 
Fromentin was only saved from being atrocious by being 
ridiculous. 

And now, patient reader, we have done with Florida ; the 
affairs of which have cost me more labor than any other sub- 
ject yet treated in these volumes. 

General Jackson was fifty-four years of age when he re- 
turned home from Florida to spend the evening of his life 
among his neighbors on the banks of the Cumberland. He 
had already lived, as it were, two lives. He had first assisted 
to subdue the western wilderness, and then taken the lead in 
defending it. He had first broken the power of the southern 
Indians, and then, by a series of treaties, regulated the terms 
upon which they were to live in neighborhood with the con- 
quering race. He had first won by his diligence and skill a 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAQE. 



G43 



Mr private estate, and then acquired, by his valor and conduct 
in war, national renown and intense popularity. Ho might 
well think that he had done his part, had borne his share'^of 
private and public burdens, and might now, with impaired 
health and strength, sit down under his own vine and lig tree 
and rest. 

That such was his sincere desire and real intention there 
are sufficient reasons to believe. Civil service he appears al- 
always to have accepted unwillingly, and resigned 'dadlv. 
Nothing but a summons to the field evei* completely overcanic 
his reluctance to leave his happy home ; and now that tiie 
aspect of the world was such as to promise a lasting j)eace to 
his country, he had, doubtless, no thought but to pass his re- 
maining days in the pleasant labors of his farm and the tran- 
quil enjoyment of his home, 

A for different lot awaited him. His life, we may almost 
say, was yet to begin ; these fifty-four years that we have re- 
viewed being but preliminary to the important events yet to 
occur, in which he was to play the most conspicuous part. A 
brief interval of repose, however, was granted him. Let us 
avail ourselves of this to look in upon his home, to glance at 
its surrounding scenes, to renew our acquaintance with some 
of its inmates, and form an acquaintance with others. In do- 
ing this we need not trammel ourselves with dates, but take 
a general view of the home-life of our hero from about the 
year 1819 to 1825. 

The new Hermitage has been built ; a grand mansion for 
that day, much the most imposing private residence in the 
vicinity. It was begun in the summer of 1819, when the 
General returned from the Seminole war, sick, and, as he sup- 
posed, not long for this world. Major Lewis tells me that he 
rode out to the Hermitage one day soon after General Jack- 
son began to get about after his severe illness. With slow 
and faltering steps, leaning heavily on his stick, the General 
took him to the site selected for the new residence — a very 
level spot in a large flat field, near the old block-house. Ma- 



644 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

jor Lewis recommended another site slightly elevated above 
the almost prairie-like level of the farm. 

" No, major," said the General, " Mrs. Jackson chose 
this spot, and she shall have her wish. I am going to 
build this house for her. I don't expect to live in it 
myself" 

And there the house was built. Let us go and see it. 
We must start from Nashville, eleven miles and a quarter 
from the Hermitage — Nashville, to which the General used 
in those years to ride in a carriage drawn by four handsome 
iron-grey horses, attended by servants in blue livery with brass 
buttons, glazed hats, and silver bands. " A very big man, 
sir," remarked one of the aged waiters of the City Hotel of 
Nashville. " We had many big men, sir, in Nashville at that 
time, but General Jackson was the biggest man of them all. 
I knew the General, sir ; but he always had so many people 
around him when he came to town that it was not often I 
could get a chance to say anything to him. He didn't used 
to put up at our house. No, sir ; the old Nashville Inn was 
Genei-al Jackson's house. He was a mighty quick man, sir ; 
used to step around lively." Thus, Washington, for thirty- 
five years waiter in the City Hotel. 

Pleasant Nashville ! Unconnected, until within these 
few years, with the railway systems either of the North or of 
the South, Nashville has grown comparatively unobserved, 
from the cluster of log-houses which Mr. Astronomer Baily 
found on the banks of the Cumberland in 1797, to be one of 
the most vigorous and beautiful cities of the Southwest. 

North Carolina is the Massachusetts of the South, without 
a Boston. Tennessee is the Pennsylvania of the South, with 
a Philadelphia. 

As the stranger rides in the slow Chattanooga cars from 
the southern border of Tennessee towards its capital, he finds 
it difficult to believe at times that he is not traveling in 
Pennsylvania. The " lay" of the land, the AUeghany-like 
mountains, the clear rippling streams, the long trains of coal- 
cars, the hard-wood forests, the prevalence of wheat and corn 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 645 

over cotton, all remind him of tlie Key-stone State. Only the 
villages are not Pennsylvanian. The villages of Tennessee, aa 
of all the Southern States, are few, small, scattered, shade- 
less, and to the northern eye desolate and forlorn looking be- 
yond description. Nashville, however, is curiously Phila- 
delphian. The brick pavements, the huge, square, old family 
mansions of the same material, the unpretending solidity of 
the place, the markets, the stores, all have a Philadelphian 
air. And lo ! here is " Vine street," " Race street," "Cherry 
street," " Broad street," all Philadelphia names. Cincinnati 
itself is scarcely more Philadelphian than Nashville. Indeed, 
all the western cities that sprung into existence while Phila- 
delphia was the metropolis of the country copied the peculi- 
arities of the mother city, and exhibit them to this day. 
Boston, too, stamped her features upqn many cities of the 
North. And of late years. New York, slatternly and splendid, 
magnificent and unclean, has had a numerous progeny of 
towns which reflect or caricature their mother's image. 

Pleasant Nashville ! Its situation is superb. A gently 
undulating, fertile valley, fifteen or twenty miles across, quite 
encircled by hills. Through this panoramic vale winds the 
ever- winding Cumberland, a somewhat swiftly-flowing stream, 
about as wide as the Hudson at Albany. The banks are of 
that abrupt ascent which suggested the name of blufi's, high 
enough to lift the country above the reach of the marvelous 
rises of the river, but not so high as to render it too difficult 
of access. In the middle of this valley, half a mile from the 
banks of the stream, is a high, steep hill, the summit of which, 
just large enough for the purpose, would have been crowned 
with a castle if the river had been the Ehine instead of the 
Cumberland. Upon this hill stands the capitol of the State 
of Tennessee, the most elegant, correct, convenient and gen- 
uine public building in the United States, a conspicuous tes- 
timonial of the wealth, taste and liberality of the State, and 
a worthy monument of the architect, Strickland, whose re- 
mains, by his own request, are inclosed within its marble 
walls, sealed hermetically in a cavity left for the purpose. 



646 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

" Circumspice !" From the cupola of this edifice the stran- 
ger, delighted and surprised, looks down upon the city of 
Nashville, packed between this capitol-crowned hill and the 
coiling Cumberland, looks around upon the panoramic valley, 
dotted with villas and villages, smiling with fields, and fringed 
with distant, dark, forest-covered mountains. And there is one 
still living who was born in that valley when it was death from 
the rifle of a savage to go unattended to drink from a spring 
an eighth of a mile from the settlement. 

Pleasant Nashville ! It was laid out in the good old 
English, southern manner. First, a spacious square for 
court-house and market, lined now with stores so solid and 
elegant that they would not look out of place in the business 
streets of New York, whose stores are palaces. From the 
■ides and angles of this square, which is the broad back of a 
huge underground rock, run the principal streets — and there 
is your town. 

Saturday is the great day at Nashville. It has been a 
custom from the early days of the settlement for the planters 
to come to town on the last day of the week, whether for busi- 
ness or for recreation. Then the great square is a busy scene 
indeed. The market-house, in the midst thereof, deserted on 
other days because market is over before breakfast, is filled on 
Saturdays with buyers and sellers. Long rows of produce- 
wagons, hay-wagons, wood- wagons, tangled strings of mules ; 
groups of laughing negroes ; here, an auctioneer roaring the 
praises of a horse ; there, a knot of burly planters in high 
riding boots well splashed with mud ; there, a town lawyer 
held by the button by a huge client from the country, anx- 
iety depicted only on the lawyer's face, for his office is full of 
country clients awaiting his return ; a crowd around the 
court-house door ; the stores tilled with customers. Along 
the pavements flit elegantly dressed ladies, looking extremely 
like their elegantly dressed sisters on this side of the moun- 
tains. Occasionally may be seen an ancient, faded, family 
coach, a relic of old grandeur, of the days when country gen- 
tlemen drove to town in chariots and four, and the four had 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 647 

as much as they couhi do to draw the lumbering vehicle 
through the mud. 

Those healthy-looking, sturdy, iully-developed farmers of 
western Tennessee — what a pleasure to look at them ! It is 
nothing uncommon to see a ruddy old boy of eighty riding 
along to town, erect and blithe, who would pass for fifty- 
eight in New York. As a rule, the northern visitor must 
to the apparent age of Tennesseans add ten years, in order to 
arrive at their real age. " Old Hannah," for example, whose 
care of the chickens at the Hermitage General Jackson extols, 
is now sixty-seven years of age, and she appears to be still in 
the very prime of her vigor. She strode about the Hermitage 
farm with us on a chilly wet day in February, bare-headed, 
with a spring in her step that belongs to thirty-five. When 
informed of her age, I stared incredulous. 

Pleasant Nashville ! The wealth of Nashville is of the 
genuine, slowly-formed description, that does not take to itself 
wings and fly away just when it is wanted most. It came out 
of that fertile soil which seems to combine the good quali- 
ties of the prairie with the lasting strength of forest land. 
Those roomy square brick mansions are well filled with fur- 
niture the opposite of gimcrack, and if the sideboards do not 
" groan" under the weight of the silver plate upon them, the 
fact is to be set down to the credit of the sideboards. Where 
but eighty years ago the warwhoop startled mothers putting 
their children to bed, the stranger, strolling abroad in the 
evening, pauses to listen to operatic arias, fresh from Italy, 
sung with much of the power and more than the taste of a 
prima donna. Within, mothers may be caught in the act of 
helping their daughters write Italian exercises, or hearing 
them recite French verbs. Society is lighted with gas, and 
sits dazzling in the glorious blaze of bituminous coal, and 
catches glimpses of itself in mirrors capable of full length 
portraitures. Better than such things as these — the schools 
are equal to those of the northern cities. 

In all Nashville, there is but one object that reminds the 
traveler that he is in a city of the South. It is a little silver 



648 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

plate upon the front of a large house that looks like a private 
bank, and upon the little silver plate are three little words, 
meaning much. They are : " Negroes for Sale." There 
is not another sign of the pecuUar institution to be observed 
in the place. 

Suudtiy is the great day to colored Nashville, and jDartic- 
ularly Sunday afternoon, when the slave women come out in 
the largest hoops that ever encircled the female form in any 
part of the globe, and those hoops covered with silk dresses, 
black, flounced, voluminous and long. The men delight in 
broad-cloth of reverend black, upon which the gold chains, 
with gold watches at one end of them, show to advantage. 
In well-built churches of their own, the slaves assemble in 
great crowds, and conduct their meetings with dignity and 
pathos. There is, of course, some grotesque gesticulation and 
some frantic shouting. But these are indulged in, as in white 
congi*egations, only by a very few half-sincere, very ignorant 
members, who ought to be authoritatively shut up and power- 
fully held down, whether white or black. Shall I ever forget 
the lame Stentor who, with voice not less melodious than 
powerful, in a manner not less tasteful than sincere, rolled 
out, Carl Formes like, " I would not live alway ;" the rest of 
the congregation gradually ceasing to sing, that they might 
make the hymn a solo .^ Shall I ever forget the well-grown, 
erect, and stalwart African whose discourse was essentially 
this, " Religion is honesty ?" Never. Nor the yellow dam- 
sel in flounced black silk and white kids, who flung aloft her 
two snow-ball hands, exclaiming, that the Article wanted in 
Nashville was " real old-fashioned religion." They conduct 
their meetings quite in their own way, it appears, and are by 
no means kept strictly to the rule which requires them to be 
at home by nine o'clock. 

The old sports, it seems, are still occasionally pursued in 
the vicinity of Nashville. Within the last four or five years 
there was a cock-fight of unexampled proportions. Tennessee 
and South Carolina against Georgia and Alabama. Two 
hundred of the warlike birds were brought to the ground. 



1821.1 THE NEW HERMITAGE. 641) 

There were fifty fights. The winning States received five 
thousand dollars, and the aifair lasted three or four daya. 
Two hundred writs, however, were issued for the arrest of 
the sportsmen ; and, though the leaders escaped, a large 
number of the participants were fined. The sport is looked 
upon by nine-tenths of the people as infamous and absurd. 

But really, at this rate of progress, we shall be long in 
getting to the Hermitage. 

The country between Nashville and the Hermitage is 
more pleasing to the eye of a farmer than to that of the 
scenery hunter. Fields nearly level, or slightly rolling — very 
large fields compared with those of the North, — fine groves 
and forests of hard wood, creeks flowing through deep ravines 
into the Cumberland ; the Cumberland not visible, but its 
course indicated by the contour of the blufis ; only an occa- 
sional field of cotton, with its low black stubble tufted with 
white, to remind the visitor that he is not in the agricultural 
regions of Pennsylvania. 

Seven miles from Nashville we rumble across the old cov- 
ered bridge of Stone's river, and come in sight of the block- 
house where Jackson and Coffee kept their store, and con- 
tracted for the building of Burr's boats — a pile without 
inhabitant now, to ruin running, a specter of a house in a 
large field. Near by is Clover Bottom, where John Donel- 
son encamped and planted corn, and lost his crop by an over- 
flow of the Cumberland ; where, too. General Jackson ran 
his horses, and strode tremendous to the rescue of Patton 
Anderson, wading knee-deep in dinner. 

Soon we reach the Hermitage farm, a thousand acres in 
e>xtent ; four hundred cleared and cultivated ; the rest forest 

thick, lofty, luxuriant ; only less so than the forests of 

western New York or Ohio. No mansion yet in sight, how- 
ever. What is tliis minute edifice of brick, too small for a 
school-house, too desolate for a lodge .? That is the Presby- 
terian Church which General Jackson built for the solace of 
his wife, soon after she joined the Church ; and a solace 
indeed it was to the good lady, and to her religious friends 



650 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

in the neighborhood. It stands quite alone in a lane, out of 
sight of the Hermitage. 

Now we leave the turnpike and turn into a private road, 
straight, narrow, a quarter of a mile long, the land on both 
sides a dead level. We come to a low iron gate in a white 
wooden frame, which admits us to an avenue of young cedars, 
ending in a grove, through which a guitar-shaped lawn is 
visible. But still no house. Not till the carriage begins to 
wind about the lawn, within a very few yards of the front 
door, does the mansion disclose itself to view — so level is the 
land, so dense the surrounding evergreen foliage. We alight, 
at length, on the stone steps of the piazza, and the Hermit- 
age is before us. 

It is not a very spacious building, and very far indeed 
from being an elegant one. A two-story brick house, with a 
double piazza, both in front and in the rear ; the piazza 
wooden and painted white, supported by thick grooved 
pillars of the same material and color. The floors of the 
lower piazza are of stone, and each end terminates in a wing 
of the house. Just behind the edifice is a large garden, with 
pebbled paths, and beds bordered with bricks. The rooms 
are lofty, rather small, and plainly furnished. The parlors 
are hung with portraits of the General and his friends. Cof- 
fee, Bronaugh, Gadsden, Eaton, and others. There is a 
portrait of Mrs. Jackson in white satin, topaz jewelry, low 
neck and short sleeves ; fat, forty, but not fair. In the hall 
are busts of Edward Livingston, Mr. Cass, and Levi Wood- 
bury. 

One would have expected to find the stables of such a 
lover of horses extensive and commodious ; but they are nei- 
ther. One building of unhewn logs, with stalls for nine or ten 
horses, and another still smaller for the shelter of the huge 
family coach, are all the out-buildings that now remain. The 
negro cabins, some of logs and a few of brick, are scattered 
about the farm, instead of forming a compact little street, as 
is often the case on large plantations. 

General Jackson, as we have mentioned before, was a vigi- 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 651 

lant and successful farmer. His tastes and habits were sim- 
ple and fiirmer-like, as are those of southerners generally. The 
visitor is constantly reminded, in the southern States, that he 
is in a region where the ruling interest is agi-iculture, where 
the elite of the j^eople are farmers. Cotton, the staple product, 
is also the staple topic, and all life has the farm-house flavor 
and tone. A certain primitive simplicity pervades every thing. 
To go southward is to make a journey into the past. Travel 
twenty-four hours into the southern States, ancl then get ten 
miles away from the railroad, and you have arrived at Sixty- 
Years- Ago. You are handling the implements, you are en- 
joying the usages, you are contemplating the cast of character, 
you are eating the viands, you are sitting in the fire-places, 
you are snuffing the candles, of the year 1790. Often, too, 
you will have the heart-felt satisfaction of observing, particu- 
larly in North Carolina and Tennessee, that along with the 
primitive manners and customs of another age have been pre- 
served the primitive health, feelings, and virtues — a certain 
hearty, honest, homely dignity of character which we have 
heard our great-grandfathers possessed. Every thing is done 
slowly at the South, and people have time to live, to grow 
fat, and to grow old. Even General Jackson, a marvelously 
active man for the South, was never an early riser when at 
home. He sat down to breakfast between eight and nine ; 
and, after dinner, he and his wife took a leisurely and digni- 
fied pull at their reed pipes. 

Can we recall the group that used to gather round that 
fireside and listen to Aunt Kachel's stories after dinner ? 
There sits the General in his rocking-chair, tranquilly smok- 
ing, tranquilly listening, occasionally laughing at his wife's 
quaint narratives, and sometimes, when the tale threatens to 
be too long, taking it out of her mouth, and giving it a sum- 
mary graceful finish. The " two Andrews" have outgrown 
the possibility of sharing the General's chair. Andrew, the 
adopted, is a stout boy of eleven, as much indulged as ever. 
Andrew Jackson Donelson has graduated with honor at West 
Point, and is now a fine young officer of the engineer corps. 



662 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821, 

" Lieutenant Donelson.'- says the General in one of his letters 
of 1821, " is young, but I trust you will find him modest and 
unassuming ; possessing as good an education as any of his 
age in America ; of good, moral habits, and entirely clear of 
all the dissipations too common to the youth of the modern 
day."* 

To show the tender afiection felt by General Jackson for 
the young relatives of his wife, I will transcribe part of an- 
other letter, in which he communicates to a friend the sudden 
death of one of the Donelson youths. " The news," he says, 
" was a shock to my feelings. On these children I had built 
my hopes of happiness in my declining days. They have, 
somehow, always appeared as my own. How fleeting sublu- 
nary things, and how little ought they really to be estimated. 
He is gone — how I regret his suffering and want of medical 
aid. But if he is gone, he has left us this pleasing consola- 
tion, that he has not left a stain or blemish behind ever to 
bring a blush in the cheek of his surviving friends. They 
can reflect on him with pleasure, while they regret his un- 
timely exit. Prepare the mind of his tender mother for the 
shock before you communicate it, and keep from her knowl- 
edge, for the present, that he wanted for any thing in his 
illness."f 

Besides the young gentlemen, there was always a young 
niece or two of Mrs. Jackson living at the Hermitage. They 
could easily please the General with their music. Two songs 
especially always delighted him, Auld Lang Syne and Scots 
wha ha' wi' Wallace bled. When ladies asked him to write 
something in their albums, he was as likely to write "When 
I can read my title clear" as any thing else. 

The spare rooms of the Hermitage were not often unoccu- 
pied. General Cofiee came occasionally to visit his old com- 
mander. Major Eaton, of the Senate, was frequently there, a 
portly man, devoted to General Jackson, whose life he had 
just written. Major Eaton and Major Lewis were brothers- 

* Autograph Collection of H. C. Van Schaack, of Manlius, N. Y. 
f MSS. of Historical Society of Tennessee. 



1821]. THE NEW HERMITAGE. 653 

in-law, both having married wards of General Jackson. The 
General, therefore, looked upon them both almost as sons-in- 
law, as well as tried friends and comrades. Dr. Bronaiigh, 
the General's military surgeon, a high-spirited Virginian, a 
stickler for the code of honor, heartily believing in the pistol 
as the great social regulator, and always prompt to act in 
accordance with that faith, was a frequent visitor. Colonel 
Robert Butler, a somewhat haughty soldier of the old school, 
Captain Call, also a devotee of the pistol. Captain Gadsden, 
Colonel Hayne (brother of the Senator re])lied to by Web- 
ster), Judge Overton, General Carroll, General Sam Houston, 
Captain John Donelson and his sons, were always welcome. 
The clerical friends of Mrs. Jackson were entertained at the 
Hermitage with a peculiar warmth of hospitality. Indeed, 
clergymen of all denominations were welcomed there at all 
times, and treated with the most marked distinction. Mr. Earl, 
an artist, often commissioned to paint General Jackson's por- 
trait, became at length a member of his household; and having 
employed the last twelve years of his life in continually paint- 
ing the General's portrait, died at the Hermitage, and was 
buried in the garden beside the General's own tomb. "In 
memory of R. E. W. Earl, Artist, Friend and Companion of 
General Jackson, who died at the Hermitage, 16th Sept., 
1837," is the inscription on his tombstone. 

Another friend of General Jackson, a frequent visitor at 
the Hermitage in these years, demands a passing notice — 
Henry Lee, the son of General Henry Lee of the Revolution. 
Henry Lee, in the prime of his years, fell into the greatest of 
human calamities, the commission of a crime. His oiFense, 
though of the deepest dye and utterly inexcusable, was one 
which a man may once commit and yet not be wholly base. 
The sister of his own wife, an inmate of his own house, re- 
siding there in double trust, was the participant of his fault. 
The seducer fled from the indignation of his neighbors, and 
went, ruined but repentant, to General Jackson, under whom 
he had served in the war of 1812. For his fatlier's sake, and 
believing also in the sincerity of his contrition, and giving due 



654 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

weight to certain extenuating circumstances, General Jackson 
received him to his house for a while, and remained his fast 
friend and benefactor to the close of his life. He employed 
his masterly pen in the preparation of his public papers, and 
afterwards gave him office, not heeding senatorial opposition. 
Major Lee wrote some striking works, began a life of General 
Jackson, and has a place in catalogues and literary cyclo- 
ptedias. It is probable that the memorial of General Jack- 
son to the Senate in defense of his conduct in the Seminole 
war was the composition of Henry Lee. Many Df the Gen- 
eral's campaign letters and other political papers were doubt- 
less " copied" by him before they met the public eye. 

After the war of 1812 General Jackson was never seen at 
the cock-pit, and seldom on the race ground, though his love 
of horses was a love that never grew cold. 

He was no great reader of books. His library at the Her- 
mitage consists chiefly of presentation copies and the biblical 
commentaries so eagerly read by the General at a later day. 
He was always a devourer of newspapers, however, and was 
particularly fond of hearing an eloquent speech read aloud in 
the family circle. In earlier years he had been a warm ad- 
mirer of the eloquence of Henry Clay. He once declared with 
peculiar emphasis that it was the perusal of Mr. Clay's speech 
against the recharter of the United States Bank, in 1811, 
that convinced him of the unconstitutionality and impolicy 
of a national bank. The later speeches of Mr. Clay in favor 
of the bank, we are well aware, could not shake the convic- 
tions of 1811. Mr. Calhoun's war speeches were keenly rel- 
ished by the General, as were the diplomatic dispatches of 
Mr. John Quincy Adams. Monroe, Calhoun, Adams, and 
De Witt Clinton were the public men who stood highest in 
his regard at this period. 

The conversation of General Jackson, when at home 
among his familiar friends, related chiefly to the warlike ex- 
ploits of himself and his companions. Revolutionary anec- 
dotes, of which his old friend, General Overton, had a large 
stock, were particularly pleasing to him, and he was fond of 



1821,] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 655 

telling over the story of his own boyish adventures during 
that contest. In speaking of the defense of New Orleans, ho 
usually attributed his success to the direct interposition of 
Providence in support of the weak against the strong. 

A little scene that occurred at the Hermitage table, as 
described to me by a lady who witnessed it, may serve to illus- 
trate the curious blending of the Presbyterian with the sol- 
dier and man of the world, sometimes exhibited in General 
Jackson's behavior. After his wife had joined the church, 
the general, in deference to her wishes, was accustomed to 
ask a blessing before meals. The company had sat down at 
the table one day, when the General was telling a warlike 
stoiy with great animation, interlarding his discourse, as was 
then his custom, with a profusion of expletives most heterodox 
and profane. In the full tide of his narration the lady of the 
house inteiTupted her lord, " Mr. Jackson, will you ask a bless- 
ing ,?" Mr. Jackson stopped short in the midst of one of his 
most soldier-like sentences, performed the duty required of 
him, and then instantly resumed his narrative in the same 
tone and language as before. If it were admissible to give 
here the exact words of the interrupted sentence, with the 
grace in the midst thereof, this would be a capital story. 
The reader can imagine it, however. 

Another kind informant gave me a glimpse of the General, 
of peculiar interest. We have before had occasion to mention 
the name of Parson Craighead, a noted Presbyterian clergy- 
man, long a resident of Nashville, a lover of the family at the 
Hermitage. It was Parson Craighead who, on that Sunday 
mornins: when the citizens of Nashville were assembled in 
town meeting to discuss the massacre at Fort Mims, elo- 
quently harangued the multitude, urging them to fly to the 
rescue of their fellow-citizens in the south. During the Creek 
war that followed, Parson Craighead gave to General Jackson 
the support of his eloquence and influence. Years after, the 
patriotic clergyman incurred the disapproval of a portion of 
his brethren, and was, at length, openly and formally accused 
of heresy. .An evening was appointed for the investigation 



656 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821 

of the charge. General Jackson, Mrs, Jackson, and a lady of 
their household were in prompt attendance to stand by their 
friend in his time of trouble. 

At nine o'clock in the evening the parson rose to reply to 
the accusation, or, rather, to state fully and precisely what 
his opinions were, and to show that they accorded with the 
writings recognized by the church as authoritative. His ad- 
dress was, perhaps, the longest, and, to a man like General 
Jackson, certainly the least interesting ever delivered in Ten- 
nessee. After the first hour, the large congregation began so 
rapidly to melt away that, by eleven o'clock, there were not 
fifty persons in the church. The eager parson, however, kept 
sturdily on stating his points and arranging his texts, regard- 
less of the emptying pews ; for there sat General Jackson in 
the middle of the church, bolt upright, with his eyes intently 
fixed upon the speaker. Midnight arrived. There were then 
just four persons in the church — the party from the Hermit- 
age, and the lady to whom the reader is indebted for this 
story. The General still listened with a look of such rapt 
attention, that he seemed to produce upon the speaker the 
effect of a large assembly. " I was dying to go," said my 
informant, " but I was ashamed to be outdone by General 
Jackson, who was more fit to be in bed than any one who had 
been present, and so I resolved to stay as long as he did, if I 
dropped asleep upon the floor." The parson wound up his 
discourse just as the clock struck one. General Jackson went 
up to him as he descended from the pulpit, and congratulated 
him heartily upon his triumphant vindication. 

" The General would have sat till daylight," said the lady, 
" I saw it in his eye." 

Another small anecdote from the same friendly source. 
Whenever clergymen visited the Hermitage they were invited 
to perform family prayers. A certain Doctor of Divinity, of 
much consequence in his denomination, accompanied by hia 
wife who felt that consequence, was the guest of the General 
on one occasion. Before the evening devotions began the 
wife of the General's overseer entered the apartment. Mrs. 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. 657 

Jackson rose and made room for her on the sofa upon which 
she had herself been sitting, and treated her with quite as 
much consideration as though she had been a hidy of the first 
distinction. The wife of the Doctor of Divinity lifted her 
orthodox eyebrows at this proceeding, and addressed to the 
lady Avho sat next to her an inquiring stare. " Oh, yes," 
whispered the lady thus interrogated, " that is the way here ; 
and if she had not done it, the General would." Then to 
prayers. An overseer, northern readers may not be aware, is 
regarded at the South as a person decidedly inferior in social 
rank to his employer. 

There were grand doings at Nashville and at the Hermit- 
age when, in the spring of 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette 
visited Tennessee. The Marquis came up the Cumberland in 
a steamboat, and was received by General Jackson and enthu- 
siastic crowds of people at the Nashville levee. At the ban- 
quet given in honor of the nation's guest at Nashville General 
Jackson presided, and afterwards made the tour of Tennessee 
in his company. Of Lafayette's visit to the Hermitage we 
have, from the pen of M. Levasseur, his secretary, an account 
which is interesting, but French : 

" At one o'clock," says M. Levasseur, " we embarked with 
ft numerous company to proceed to dine with General Jack- 
eon, whose residence is a few miles up the river. We there 
found numbers of ladies and farmers from the neighborhood, 
whom Mrs. Jackson had invited to partake of the entertain- 
ment she had prepared for General Lafayette. The first 
thing that struck me on arriving at tlie General's was the 
simj)licity of his house. Still somewhat influenced by my 
European habits, I asked myself if this could really be the 
dwelling of the most popular man in the United States, of 
him whom the country proclaimed one of her most illustrious 
defenders ; of him, finally, who by the will of the people was 
on the point of becoming her Chief Magistrate. One of our 
fellow-passengers, a citizen of Nashville, witnessing my aston- 
ishment, asked me whether in France our public men, that is 

VOL. II. — 42 



658 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

to say, the servants of the public, lived very diiferently from 
other citizens ? 

" ' Certainly,' said I ; ' thus, for example, the majority of 
our generals, all our ministers, and even the greater part of 
our subaltern administrators, would think themselves dishon- 
ored, and would not dare to receive any one at their houses, 
if they only possessed such a residence as this of Jackson's ; 
and the niodest dwellings of your illustrious chiefs of the rev- 
olution, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, would only in- 
spire them with contempt and disgust. They must first have 
in the city an immense and vast edifice, called a hotel, in 
■which two large families could live with ease, but which they 
fill with a crowd of servants strangely and ridiculously dressed, 
and whose only employment, for the most part, is to insult 
those honest citizens who come on foot to visit their master. 
They must also have another large establishment in the coun- 
try, which they call a chateau, and in which they accumulate 
all the luxuries of furniture, decorations, entertainments, and 
dress — in fact every thing that can make them forget the 
country. Then they must have, to enable them to go from 
one to the other of these habitations, a great number of car- 
riages, horses, and servants.' 

" ' Very well,' interrupted the Tennessean, shaking hia 
head as if in doubt, ' but who provides these public officers 
with all the money thus swallowed up in luxury, and how do 
the affairs of the people go on ?' 

" ' If you ask them they will tell you that it is the King 
who pays them, although I can assure you that it is the na- 
tion, which is borne down by taxes for the purpose ; as to 
business, it is both well and badly attended to, but generally 
the latter.' 

" ' And why do you submit to such a state of things ?' 

" ' Because we can not remedy it.' 

" ' What ! you can not remedy it ? A nation so great, 
so enlightened as the French, can not prevent its officers, 
magistrates, and servants from enjoying, at their expense, a 
scandalous and immoral luxuriousness, and at the same time 



1821.] THE NEW HERMITAGE. C59 

not attending to their duties ! whilst we, who have just as- 
bumed our name among nations, are enjoying the immense 
advantage of only having for magistrates men who are plain, 
honest, laborious, and more jealous of our esteem than solicit- 
ous for wealth. Permit me to believe that what you have 
told is only pleasantry, and that you wished to amuse your- 
self for a moment with a poor Tennessean who has never vis- 
ited Europe, But rest assured that, however ignorant we 
may be of what passes on the other side of the water, it is not 
easy to make us credit things which militate so strongly 
against good sense and the dignity of man.' 

" Do what I could, I could never make this good citizen 
of Nashville believe that I was not jesting, and was obliged to 
leave him in the belief that we were not worse governed in 
France than in the United States. 

" General Jackson successively showed us his garden and 
farm, which appeared to be well cultivated. We everywhere 
remarked the greatest order and most perfect neatness ; and 
we might have believed ourselves on the property of one of 
the richest and most skillful of the German farmers, if, at 
every step, our eyes had not been afflicted by the sad spectacle 
of slavery. Everybody told us that General Jackson's slaves 
were treated with the greatest humanity, and several persons 
assured us that it would not surprise them if, in a short time, 
their master, who already had so many claims on the grati- 
tude of his fellow-citizens, should attempt to augment it still 
more by giving an example of gradual emancipation to Ten- 
nessee, which would be the more easily accomplished, as there 
are in this State but seventy-nine thousand slaves in a popu- 
lation of four hundred and twenty- three thousand, and from 
the public mind becoming more inclined than formerly to the 
abolition of slavery. 

" On returning to the house some friends of General Jack- 
son, who probably had not seen him for some time, begged 
him to show them the arms presented to him in honor of his 
achievements during the last war ; he acceded to their request 
with great politeness, and placed on a table a sword, a sabei, 



660 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1821. 

and a pair of pistols. The sword was presented to him by 
Congress ; the saber, I believe, by the army which fought 
under his command at New Orleans. These two weapons, of 
American manufacture, were remarkable for their finish, and 
still more so for the honorable inscriptions with which they 
were covered. But it was to the pistols that General Jackson 
wished more particularly to draw our attention ; he handed 
them to General Lafayette, and asked him if he recognized 
them. The latter, after examining them attentively for a 
few minutes, replied that he fully recollected them to be a 
pair he had presented, in 1778, to his paternal friend, Wash- 
ington, and that he experienced a real satisfaction in finding 
them in the hands of one so worthy of possessing them. At 
these words the face of ' Old Hickory' was covered with a 
modest blush, and his eye sparkled as in a day of victory. 

" ' Yes, I believe myself worthy of them,' exclaimed he, 
in pressing the pistols and Lafayette's hands to his breast ; 
' if not from what I have done, at least for what I wished to 
do for my country.' 

" All the bystanders applauded this noble confidence of 
the patriot hero, and were convinced that the weapons of 
Washington could not be in better hands than those of 
Jackson." 

There is current in Nashville a curious story of the Gen- 
eral, which, though it belongs to a later period, may be al- 
lowed a place here. When his adopted son Andrew had 
grown to manhood, the General established him upon a plan- 
tation near his own. Young Andrew, it appears, was of a 
very speculative turn ; prone to make costly experiments, 
and to embark in enterprises that promised largely, but did 
not fulfill their promise. It often happened, therefore, that 
the young speculator was embarrassed, and had long bills at 
the stores, which the General was accustomed in a quiet way 
to liquidate. A large quantity of wheat was once brought 
from the Hermitage to a store in Nashville for sale. As the 
operation had been superintended by young Andrew, the 
Btorekeeper jumped to the natural conclusion that the wheat 



1821,] THE NEW HEUMITAQE. 661 

was his, and so placed the proceeds of the sale to his credit. 
As the long-standing account of the young gentleman was 
thus paid off, the merchant felicitated himself upon the 
transaction. 

A few weeks after, General Jackson called to inquire 
about his wheat. Was it all right.? How much did it 
measure? What was the amount realized? It was all 
right. It measured correctly. It realized so much. 

" Very well," said General Jackson, " if it's no inconve- 
nience to you, I'll take the money now." 

"But, General," replied the merchant, with a long face, 
"we have a large amount on our books against your son, 
and supposing the wheat to be his we have given him credit 
for it." 

" His ? Nay, my dear sir, this wheat is my wheat — 
grew on my plantation. My son's crop was a failure." 

The merchant was sufficiently acquainted with General 
Jackson to know that remonstrance would be worse than use- 
less, and therefore counted out the money and gave it to 
the General, who put it into his pocket and buttoned his 
pocket up. After sitting awhile, the General rose to go. 
He stopped near the door, however, and said, taking out his 
pocket-book : 

Well, Mr. M., I shan't want more than twenty dollars of 
this money. Here, place the rest to my son's credit." 

He had, doubtless, meant to make that disposition of the 
money from the beginning, but did not relish its being done 
by others. 

And yet another anecdote — the contribution of a lady 
well known to the people of Nashville. " My fother once 

gave a dinner party to Mi's. (the daughter of Henry 

Clay), a visitor then at Nashville. Just as dinner was about 
to be announced who should arrive but the General and Mrs. 
Jackson ! My poor mother was in consternation, for the Gen- 
eral's wrath against Mr. Clay was notorious. At length, seeing 
no other course, she went to General Jackson and frankly stated 
her dilemma. 



662 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1823. 

" * Madam/ said the General, in his grandest style, ' I 
shall be delighted to meet Mr. Clay's daughter.' 

" He entered the drawing-room and greeted the lady with 
p 3culiar warmth. He conducted her to the dining-room, sat 
beside her, and paid her the most marked attentions during 
the repast. The dinner passed oiF delightfully ; every lady 
present adoring General Jackson, and we grateful to him be- 
yond measure." 

And, now, from the peaceful and pleasant scenes at Nash- 
ville and the Hermitage we must turn away for a while to 
follow the series of events which induced the Hermit to aban- 
don his intention of passing there the remnant of his days, 
events which led him, ere long, to take up his abode in a 
mansion wherein happiness has never dwelt. Esteemed the 
goal of an honorable ambition, it turns out to be, when 
reached, a pillory. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

SIX RICHMONDS IN THE FIELD. 

Nine times the country had survived a presidential elec- 
tion. Five Presidents had been chosen — Washington, Adams, 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe. Yet there had been but one 
evenly balanced, well-contested presidential campaign — that 
which ended in placing Thomas Jefferson at the head of affairs 
in 1801 ; an event so profoundly satisfactory to the people 
that it was followed by a comparative political calm of more 
than twenty years' duration. During all that long period 
Jefferson and his Virginian pupils ruled. They conducted the 
country through a war with Great Britain. They annihilated 
the Federal party. 

The Jeffersonian impulse, so to speak, appeared then to 
have spent its force. The older politicians, who came before 
the people invested with the sanctity of revolutionary asso- 



1823.] SIX RIOHMONDS IN THE FIELD. 663 

ciations, were passing from the stage, and the second genera- 
.tion of public men had acquired experience and celebrity. Of 
these new men, all who could reasonably h()])e to reach the 
highest office were members of the same party, and professed 
simihir opinions. There were latent divergencies between 
them, which time developed ; but these entered not into the 
canvass of 1824. That contest was to be decided on grounds 
partly sectional, chiefly personal. Men, not principles, were 
the subjects of controversy and the objects of exertion. 

These presidential elections of ours, peculiar, unexam- 
pled, do certainly exhibit, to the wonder of onlookers, some 
painful and hideous phenomena. But, upon the whole, have 
they not been beneficial to us .? Along with much idle per- 
sonality, and many revolting slanders, and much abominable 
perversion, there has been eager and able discussion of great 
l)rinciples. Presidential campaigns have doubtless aided to 
intellectualize the people ; doing for many of us what the dis- 
cussion of knotty theological problems did for the people of 
earlier times. The distracting subject of slavery, for example, 
the agitation of which has been deemed an unmixed evil — 
does it not embrace all history, all natural history, all morals, 
all politics ? Could any thing so educate a people as the 
passionate discussion of a subject which involves the review 
of man's whole existence in this world, and the intense recon- 
sideration of all that the experience of ages was suj)posed to 
have settled ? What an astounding fool a man must be who 
is no wiser, no more habituated to reflection from what he 
has heard, read and spoken on this topic during the last ten 
years ! The mental activity and moral sense which we acquire 
from the consideration of slavery the last generation drew 
from the agitation of questions relating to the nature of gov- 
ernment. 

The presidential campaign of 1824, however, was the 
least profitable one that ever occurred, because it was the 
one most exclusively personal. But it was far from being the 
least exciting. The long lull in the political firmament had 
given every one a keen desire for a renewal of the old excite- 



664 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1823. 

ments, and there was everywhere an eager buzz of prepara- 
tion. During the last three years of Mr. Monroe's second 
term the great topic of conversation throughout the country 
was, Who shall be our next President .? 

Six candidates were spoken of and paragraphed. 

First, William Harris Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of 
the Treasury. He was the heir apparent of the Virginian dy- 
nasty, and the " regular," the " caucus" candidate of the Ee- 
publican party. Mr. Crawford, however, managed his affairs 
with no more skill than he had displayed in playing Cato in 
in his pedagogic days. He was first precipitate, then foolish, 
lastly unfortunate. Mr. Monroe had scarcely been reelected, 
before the friends of Crawford in Georgia began an active and 
open canvass in his behalf, claiming that he alone in the cabi- 
net was a pure Republican of the Jeffersonian school. The 
scheme was to unite in behalf of Crawford the southern in- 
terest with one of the large northern States — an old game 
now, then less familiar. New York gave the best promise to 
the friends of Crawford, a State supposed to be the political 
property of Martin Van Buren. Mr. Van Buren, then but 
beginning his senatorial career, had not yet acquired national 
celebrity, powerful as he was in his native State. 

To nail Mr. Van Buren to his support Mr. Crawford hit 
upon a scheme that reminds us again of his histrionic per- 
formance. Mr. Joseph B. Cobb, of Georgia, the connection 
of Crawford's most trusted ally, has told the world* what this 
notable scheme was. " Crawford," says Mr. Cobb, "being at 
the head of a dominant and powerful party in Georgia, re- 
solved upon a stroke of policy which, unseemly as it might 
and did appear even to his own friends, it was hoped might 
win to his support the great State of New York. This was 
none other than the nomination of Van Buren for the vice- 
presidency by the State of Georgia. The project was no sooner 
made known than carried out, for Crawford's wish was law to 
his party in that State. The nomination was made reluc- 

* Leisure Labors, p. 209. 



1823.] SIX KICHMONDS IN THE FIELD. 665 

tantly by tlie Crawford party, and was received with laugtiter 
and ridicule by his old enemies and opponents in Georgia, the 
Clarkites. As an amusing illustration of this, when the next 
General Assembly of the State convened, the Clarkites, being 
in a decided minority, kept Van Buren as their standing can- 
didate for all the lower order of appointments, with no other 
design than, by thus showing their contempt for the nomina- 
tion, to annoy their sensitive opponents. There are many 
now living who may remember with a smile the description 
of tickets that were exhibited and read out on such occasions. 
They had Van Buren caricatured on them in every possible 
form. Sometimes it was a half man joined to a half cat, then 
half fox and half monkey, or half snake and half mink — all 
bearing some resemblance to the object of ungenerous and in- 
decent satire. He was designated on them as ' Blue Whisky 
Van,' ' Little Van,' ' Vice-President Van,' and many other 
nicknames, far more disgraceful to the perpetrators than dis- 
paraging to Van Buren." 

Crawford, however, was a strong candidate. His strength 
lay in his being the predestined nominee of the congressional 
caucus, and there was no hope of beating him except by break- 
ing down the caucus system. At the North he had little per- 
sonal popularity. Party drill and Mr. Martin Van Buren 
were his main reliance in that quarter. 

Next to Mr. Crawford the candidate most prominent was 
John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, Secretary of State. 
Beginning his public life a Federalist, Mr, Adams had gone 
over to the Kepublican party, and served it unflinchingly. 
During the presidency of Mr. Monroe the diplomatic depart- 
ment of the administration had been particularly prominent, 
and the correspondence of the Secretary of State with foreign 
powers had filled the newspapers, and given the country a 
high idea of the Secretary's vigor, patriotism, and ability. 
Mr. Adams, so cold in temperament, so repulsive in manner, 
had justified General Jackson's most doubtful actions with 
the warmth of magnanimity defending injured innocence. 
He shared the popularity of General Jackson in consequence, 



666 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1823. 

and would have been, we are told, Tennessee's second choice 
for the presidency. He had in his favor the feeling that the 
North was fairly entitled to the next presidency, since it had 
only once been represented in the presidential chair. 

To the caucus system he was opposed, of course. " It 
places the President," he wrote in 1819, " in a state of undue 
subserviency to the members of the legislature ; which, con- 
nected with the other practice of reelecting only once the same 
President, leads to a thousand corrupt cabals between the 
members of Congress and heads of departments, who are thus 
made, almost necessarily, rival pretenders to the succession. 
The only 230ssible chance for a head of a deijartment to attain 
the presidency is by ingratiating himself with the members 
of Congress ; and as many of them have objects of their own 
to obtain, the temptation is immense to corrupt coalitions, 
and tends to make all the public offices objects of bargain and 
sale." 

Are these remarks to be viewed in the light of a confes- 
sion ? Or, amid the scene of continuous and furious elec- 
tioneering, was Mr. Adams alone a passive looker-on ? Dr. 
Quincy answers the question ; but, in so doing, contradicts 
Mr. Adams' assertion that no member of the cabinet could 
be elected President without ingratiating himself with the 
members of Congress. "Whilst these intrigues were pro- 
gressing," says the biographer, " Mr. Adams was zealously 
and laboriously fulfilling his duties as Secretary of State, nei- 
ther endeavoring himself, nor exciting his friends, to counteract 
these political movements, one of the chief objects of which 
was to defeat his chance for the presidency." 

If Mr. Adams was passive, his friends were not so. He 
had great strength in New England, much in New York, some 
at the West, little at the South. All over the North and 
East his friends were zealous and confident, and nowhere 
more so than in New York. Mr. Van Buren will find it no 
easy task to bring the Empire State into line on this occa- 
sion. 

Another candidate for the presidency was John C. Cal- 



1823.] SIX RICHMONDS IN THE FIELD. 667 

houn, of South Carolina, Secretary of War, then but forty- 
one years of age. The present generation knows little of this 
remarkable man, because it remembers only his later years ; 
when, disappointed and haggard, he lived among his peers, as 
Miss Martineau has it, " in intellectual isolation ;" the advo- 
cate of doctrines with which his age could not sympathize. 
He seemed, toward the cLjse of his career, like a spectral states- 
man, gaunt and grim, coming out of the past to repeat to won- 
dering ears the maxims of other ages. 

How different he appeared in the earlier years of his pub- 
lic life ! " Calhoun," wrote William Wirt, in 1824, " is a 
most captivating man. If the Virginians knew him as well 
as I do, he would be as popular in Virginia as he is in South 
Carolina. His is the very character to strike a Virginian — • 
ardent, generous, high-minded, brave, with a genius full of 
fire, energy and light — a devoted patriot, proud of his country, 
and prizing her glory above his life. I would turn him loose 
to make his way in Virginia against any other man in the 
United States, the ex-Presidents excepted. He wants only 
what age will give him to assure him, I think, the universal 
confidence of the nation. He is, at present, a little too san- 
guine, a little too rapid and tenacious ; but he is full of the 
kindest feelings and the most correct principles, and another 
presidential term will, I think, mellow him for the service of 
his country."* 

And this warm admiration of the Carolinian was not 
confined to southern gentlemen. Judge Story of Massachu- 
setts wrote of Mr. Calhoun in 1823 in a similar strain : " Few 
men of our country have more enlarged and liberal views of 
the true policy of our government. But his age, or rather 
his youth, at the present moment, is a formidable obstacle to 
his elevation to the chair. Sound policy would, in general, 
dictate that no man should be President under fifty years of 
age."f A strange remark to fall from a gentleman who was 
appointed to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the 
United States in his thirty-third year ! 
* Kennedy's Life of Wirt, ii., 185. f Life and Letters of Judge Stoiy, L, 42& 



668 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. [1823. 

Mr. Calhoun came naturally enough by his Democratic 
principles. His father, Patrick Calhoun, a man of north-of- 
Ireland stock, one of the bravest of the brave, one of the 
toughest of the tough, told his son when he was but nine 
years of age, that " that government is best which allows the 
largest amount of individual liberty compatible with social 
order and tranquillity, and that the improvements in political 
science would be found to consist in throwing off many of the 
restraints then imposed by law, and deemed necessary to an 
organized society."'-' The boy remembered the lesson. 

Educated at Yale, he left warm friends in New England, 
and learnt much from New England that he afterwards forgot. 
As early as 1820, he had adopted the cardinal Exception to 
his Democratic creed. " Your (equal rights) principles," 
said he to Mr. Adams in 1820, " are just and noble, hut in the 
Southern country, whenever they are mentioned, they are 
always understood as applying to white men. Domestic labor 
is confined to the blacks ; and such is the prejudice that, if I 
were to keep a white servant in my house, although I am the 
most popular man in my district, my character and reputa- 
tion would be irretrievably ruined." Mr. Adams replied that 
this confounding the ideas of servitude and labor was one of 
the bad effects of slavery. Mr. Calhoun thought it was at- 
tended with many excellent consequences. " It did not apply 
to all sorts of labor ; not, for example, to farming. He him- 
self had often held the plough. So had his father. Manu- 
facturing and mechanical labor was not degrading. It was 
only menial labor, the proper work of slaves. No white per- 
son could descend to that. And it was the best guarantee of 
equality among the whities. It produced an unvarying level 
among them. It not only did not excite, but did not admit 
of inequalities, by which one white man could doLiineer over 
another."-]- 

Mr. Calhoun's hopes of reaching the presid^iutial chair 
were founded, like those of Mr. Crawford, upon an ; ^ pecta- 

* Jenkin's Life of Calhoun, p. 23. 

f Qumcy's Lile of John Quincy Adams, p. 197. 



1823.] SIX RICHMONDS IN THE FIELD. 6G9 

tion of winning to his support one of the great nortliem 
States. As Mr. Crawford depended chiefly upon New York, 
Mr. Calhoun relied most upon Pennsylvania. It was thought, 
too, by his friends that New England would cast many elec- 
toral votes for a man who was looked upon with pecular pride 
by her young and aspiring scholars. His high reputation at 
college for diligence, talents and good morals was still remem- 
bered, and tutors pointed to him as an instance of youthi'ul 
virtue meeting its just reward. 

In South Carolina, then as always, his preeminence was 
unquestioned. His conduct as Secretary of War, during the 
administration of Mr Monroe, was universally admired; and 
the more admired as, previous to his appointment, he had 
been looked upon as a scholar antl reasoner, rather than a man 
of business. His industry and promptitude in dispatching 
the business of his department seems to have surprised even 
his own friends. 

Henry Clay of Kentucky, long the Speaker and pride of 
the House of Representatives, was also a candidate. The 
great West had grown into importance at this time, and gave 
promise of the magnificent development it has since exhibited. 
No President, no Vice-President, no Secretary of State had 
yet been chosen from that part of the Union ; and the time 
had now come, it was thought, when the States west of the 
Alleghanies should be represented in the highest office. 
Those States had borne the brunt, had won the victories, 
had reared the General of the war of 1812. Those States 
had shown peculiar and constant attachment to the princi- 
ples of the Republican party. Would it not be a graceful 
and becoming act, a just and politic concession, to select from 
one of those young and patriotic States the candidate of the 
party in behalf of which they had fought as well as voted ? 
Unquestionably it would, thought the lovers of Heniy Clay, 
aU of whose friends were lovers. 

De Witt Clinton of New York, whose canal policy had 
given him national renown, while the name of its originator 
was unknown, was also frequently spoken of for the succes- 



670 LITE OF ANDREW JAOKSON". [1823. 

sion to Mr, Monroe, But he could not indulge hopes of 
being then elected, whatever his expectations of the future 
may have been. The field was preoccupied, the competitors 
were too numerous. A proud, aspiring, unpliant man, he 
could never have reached the highest place. He would not 
Btoop to conquer. He was as unskilled in the arts of concilia- 
tion as he was destitute of the spirit of complaisance. He 
was a statesman without being a politician. 

These candidates do not appear to have anticipated the 
serious proposal of Andrew Jackson for the coveted office, 1 
see an occasional paragraph in the northern papers of 1822 
and 1823, suggesting his name for the vice-presidency. The 
friends of Mr. Adams seem to have had a dream of that kind. 
But in computing their chances of success I do not believe 
that either Crawford, Adams, Calhoun, or Clay took into 
account the possible candidateship of General Jackson until 
the year 1823. 

The starting of General Jackson as a competitor in the 
race was effected in such a remarkable manner that it may 
properly be the subject of another chapter. 



1819.] THE CESSION OF FLORIDA. 671 



APPENDIX. 



THE CESSION OF FLORIDA. 

TnE following important letter from General Jackson to Major Eaton, 
(received too late for insertion in the proper place), shows that the admin- 
istration in 1819 had serious thoughts of seizing Florida, and that General 
Jackson was disposed to annex Texas also. The unexplained delay of 
Spain to ratify the treaty of cession, signed at Washington, February 22, 
1819, was the cause of these hostile feelings. See Chapter XLIII. 

GENERAL JACKSON TO SENATOR EATON. 

" IlEnMiTAOR, December 28th, 1919. 

" Dear Sir : Having received a confidential communication from the 
Department of War which rendered it probable that I miglit be ordered to 
take the field, I found it necessary early this month to proceed to Florence 
to make some arrangements for such an event, from whence I returned on 
the 26th, where I found your letter of the 7th instant, for which I thank 
you. 

" I am happy to find that on the Florida question the members of Con- 
gress begin to feel like Americans — and I hope by a firm and just course 
they will save our national character, and not only do justice to our citizens, 
but consult the safety of our country by seizing on such points as will give 
us a lasting security, as well as full indemnity to our citizens for losses sus- 
tained. 

" I reciprocate the idea, and fully appreciate it — of abandoning all tem- 
porizing policy through fear of the Holy Alliance. It is time to be just to 
ourselves as well as to be just to others; to maintain our rights at all ha25- 
ards — by which alone our nation will be respected abroad and we can enjoy 
a lasting peace with foreign powers. I deprecate the idea of waiting longer 
for explanation from unfaithful Spain. Can we receive a minister from 
that power under present circumstances without compromitting in some 
degree our national character ? Und(;r the bad faith of Spain, as I believe, 
the only good explanation that can be given is from the mouth of American 



672 LIFE OF ANDBEW JACKSON. [1819 

cannon. Althougli I have long wished for retirement, and am doubtful 
whether my enfeebled constitution would bear me out in the attempt of 
leading anottier campaign, still, before I would see our growing Republic 
truckle to Spain, or the whole united European world, I would make the 
attempt and bury myself in defense of our national rights. And if my 
government orders it, will soon give an emphatic explanation to the infi- 
delity of Spain by seizing again the strongholds in Floiida. The national 
security and indemnity to our citizens for spoliation by Spain may require 
much more — the key to the commerce of the west ought to be ours — it is 
the Gibraltar* of the south-west, and if ever possessed by a maritime power 
will embargo the mouth of the Mississippi when its possessor pleases. By 
occupying the whole extent of Louisiana, it will aid our South American 
neighbors, and soon bring from Spain an explanation of her duplicity and 
perfidy to us that will be durable and lasting. These crude and hasty hints 
are alone for consideration and the decision of Congress. They are the 
guardians of the nation, and I hope will faithfully execute their trust. 

" Ere this Doctor Bronaugh is with you, and my several letters, with 
my answer to the report of the committee of the Senate, will have been 
received. They will have taken such a direction as your wisdom dictated, 
with which I will be content. I had, upon the most mature reflection, 
deemed my answer the only proper course. If you have thought with me 
I will be gratified. I fear not investigation. I wish to be judged agree- 
able to facts, not falsehoods, and the mode proposed of presenting the lettp*" 
to the President of the Senate with the documents — would (as 1 believe) 
never be read. I hope ere long to hear from you on this subject. 

" In my late tour I had bad weather, was exposed in the whole of it, 
and feel the worse of my jaunt. Present me to Doctor Bronaugh and 
Captain Easter, if with you — I will write Doctor Bronaugh as soon as I 
have leisure. I am engaged perusing the lengthy trial of Colonel King, 
and preparing, if possible, to forward it to the Department by to-morrow's 
mail. Present me to my worthy friend. Colonel G. Gibson, and all those 
who inquire for me. Your friends are all well here. Accept assurance of 
my friendship and esteem. 

" Andrew Jackson. 

"Major J, H. Eaton, 

" Senator in Congres3."t 

• "Qiberalter" In the original. 

t The original in the collection of Edward M. Thomas, ■Washington, D. O. 



END OF VOL. II. 



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